“A MAKER and breaker of dreams.” The All Ireland three-year-old final at Bannow and Rathangan Show is one of the hardest show classes to win in this country. Both geldings and fillies, lightweights through to heavyweights are combined in this first of the Irish Shows Association summer finals.

Sponsored by Horse Sport Ireland, the host show and longtime supporters Galway Crystal/Belleek Living, last Thursday’s final attracted 19 contenders, 11 less than last year’s bumper final and it still took all of the host show’s well-laid-out ring, reserved for this final, to contain the quality field.

In a summer when some shows have been dogged by slow judging, the decision to have just one judge – John Chugg from Worcestershire – delivered a swift, decisive final.

Third in his initial line-up was the eventual champion Bullseye, who had qualified at his owner John Tyner’s home show at Belgooly. He bought the VDL Orestus gelding from his Toomevara breeder Michael Hogan and has been on the circuit since a yearling.

“The first man to put him on the map was Tiernan Gill, he had him as the champion yearling and reserve champion young horse at Bandon two years ago,” said a delighted Tyner.

Belgooly has mixed memories for Tyner, who had a heart attack at last year’s show and now leaves his string of youngsters to Aidan Williamson, who showed Bullseye to record the owner and handler’s first win in the Dublin young horse classes last year as a two-year-old.

Also Dublin-bound is MHS Morning Master, originally pulled in top of the line. Owned by the Brennan and Murphy partnership, the Quidam Junior bay was champion at his only two previous outings at Thomastown and Adamstown this year and will join Jill Day’s stable.

HOME-BRED

Third place went to last year’s winning owner Daphne Tierney with her home-bred Bloomfield Manuscript. The Gorey young horse champion is by Financial Reward and his stable companion Bloomfield Waterfall scooped the ridden hunter title in another ring on this massive agricultural show’s site.

Zooming right up the order to fourth place was Dessie Gibson’s Last Orders, bred by JJ Bowe and featuring practically all of his present and one-time resident sires in his pedigree, including Dilshaan, Porter Rhodes, Ghareeb and Sky Boy.

The highest placed of the eight traditional-breds that qualified for this year’s final, several exhibitors afterwards suggested an additional prize for the top traditional-bred in future finals.

FILLY AWARD

One existing award is the highest-placed filly with Rebecca Monahan’s Notalot (2015) still standing as the sole filly to have won the Bannow crown. There were some quality fillies in this year’s line-up with John Williams’ Mantlehill Diamond Melody turning the Balmoral filly champion tables on Liam Lynskey’s Greenhall Carrera.

Back in May, Lynskey had won the title with his Dignified Van’t Zorgvliet filly ahead of Williams’s Munther daughter, bred by Leo Cahalane and a half-sister to his 2018 All Ireland colt foal champion.

“It was a very good standard, I thought the first three were the most lovely, lovely quality horses. The second and third were the type I used to ride but the winner is up to weight and that sort is hard to find. I thought the filly champion had a great chest on her, great width between her forelegs, she’ll make a nice broodmare,” Chugg predicted.

Horse Sport Ireland CEO Ronan Murphy, accompanied by the HSI Breeding Director Alison Corbally, was also impressed by the final, saying: “It gives me great encouragement to see such a line-up. Some beautiful fillies too and this is what it’s about; sometimes we get very hung-up on what we’re doing with breeding programmes but when we look at what we are doing, we have a lot of assets.”

SHOW RING RETURN

Making a return to the show ring was the theme of several other Bannow championships, including John & Julia Crosbie’s Hankalaine, by the late German thoroughbred Hankalo, back on the broodmare circuit after a year out.

Paula Cullen has shown everything from Welsh ponies to Irish Draughts and this time she returned with a smart Nazar filly out of the Billies Bank mare, Paulank Havannah, to win the foal championship.

Timothy Holland is not one to over-show his horses and his Oh Boss is just back in the show ring. Last year’s All Ireland yearling champion, by O.B.O.S Quality out of a Presenting dam, at Barryroe won the young horse championship.

The Wexford whitewash began in the pony young stock classes and ended with Ann Lambert’s victory with Rahale Robin in the working hunter horse championship. Winning the first of the pony championships was Barossa Stud’s Barossa Royalist on his first show ring outing and recording fifth consecutive championship win here for his owners.

Jerry Maloney’s Vechtzicht Classic Popstar, returning shortly to Holland as his year’s lease is up, finished his Irish stay on a winning note with the overall in-hand pony tricolour.

Wexford owners continued their march with Thistletown Stud recording a double with Brandon Shuna and Thistletown Olympia in the intermediate and show hunter championships respectively and Anna Mai Stafford’s Fire was the working hunter champion.