AMATEUR event rider Denis Coakley was most disappointed to have to retire his multiple winner Sugar Bunnie during the 2023 season following a flexor tendon injury but as the Irish Sport Horse mare is a full-sister to the former Sarah Ennis-ridden Sugar Brown Babe (CCI5*-L), a second career as a broodmare beckoned.

The 2010 Porsch chesnut was bred to the Follow Me stallion Double Pleasure who won an individual gold medal for Ireland at last year’s European pony show jumping championships in Belgium under Jack Kent. She went into foal first time with a due date of Friday, June 13th but decided to drop a chesnut filly on May 25th.

“Our son Chris, who had just returned home after two and a half years away, first saw a foal in the field and alerted us,” revealed Denis’s wife Miriam, District Commissioner of the Ward Union Branch of the Irish Pony Club. “It was a special day because I had insisted that everyone was to be here for lunch as, in addition to Chris, Sari was home from Australia, Zoe was home from London and Denis and Abby had no event to go to. The fact that the filly arrived that morning really added to the occasion.”

The Coakleys, who were among the many Irish who attended the recent Royal Ascot meeting, were keen to thank veterinary surgeon Robbie Collins for his help with the foal. Collins has stepped back from eventing to concentrate on Royal Equine Vet Care, the ambulatory veterinary practice he has established with Shane Stafford.