IT was a double win for the Burchill family last Saturday, as they secured an All Ireland final win and a mini championship title at a sunny Barryroe show. The West Cork show is now in its third year of hosting the All Ireland yearling colt/gelding championship, sponsored by two local businesses; Irish Yogurts and JT Motorcycles and Hon. Stephen Evans-Freke.

Union Hall Elusive, Burchill’s All Ireland victor, had flagged his Barryroe chances with a recent win in a strong yearling class at Charleville, where he went on to be the reserve young horse champion. Bred in Headford, by Seamus Leahy, (the same Galwayman who bred the Dublin triple champion Irish Draught stallion winner, Cappa Cassanova), the Elusive Emir dark bay is the sixth foal of his Simba-Carrolls Flight dam, Cloughanover Flight.

Rebecca Monahan and Liam Cotter’s reserve champion was owned by former National Hunt jockey and now keen showman Trevor Horgan. This unnamed bay gelding is traditionally-bred, coming from the Irish Draught sire, Scrapman. Unsurprisingly, given his owner’s thoroughbred links, the Gorey winner is out of the Shernazar mare Golden Fantasy, a bumper winner at Tralee for John Queally.

Continuing the strong Cork presence in the line-up were P.J Lehane’s Womanizer and John Tyner’s Tolan R-sired Jackpot, in third and fourth places. Rounding off the top-six was another Rebel County finalist in Patrick O’Sullivan’s home-bred Leap Future Two.

Slotting into fifth place was Derry Rothwell’s Greenhall Heatwave, by the Clinton sire Dignified Vant Zorgvliet, who had finished third in last year’s The Irish Field Breeders Championship with his Mermus R dam, Greenhall Catwalk.

The Lehane cousins friendly rivalry continued in the broodmare ring, where Seamus won the championship with Kings Master mare Ballard Peaches and Cream, who retained her 2018 Barryroe title. Bought back from her breeder Stephen McCarthy, Peaches and Cream is out of Ballard Jewel, by Ghareeb, who herself won the 2008 All Ireland filly foal final Lehane, a Clonakilty breeder and former owner.

While PJ settled for the reserve broodmare title with P.J’s Delight, the home-bred Lux Z mare went on to win the Horse Sport Ireland broodmare championship, with her Munther filly foal at foot. This was the third year in a row that P.J’s Delight, a prolific All Ireland and Dublin winner as a youngster, has won this class.

Championship honours

Kieran O’Gorman won the foal championship with Brookfield Roger, by his own thoroughbred stallion Munther. In reserve were the father-and-son team of Pat and Jim O’Mahony, with their Watermill Swatch colt.

Eoin Jennings’s Gairdin Mor Spirit, by Spirit House, continued her good Barryroe form by winning the young horse championship for her young owner. In reserve was the other two-year-old winner; Lynda Twomey’s Colin Diamond gelding, Diamond Of Night.

With her brother Aidan mainly showing horses now, it was Julieanne Williamson who handled Hilin Hibiscus, the in-hand pony champion, ahead of a busy Jerry Maloney, fresh from his Bannow & Rathangan success.

Breenybeg Dolly played her part in Saoirse Keohane’s Barryroe double, winning both of the ridden pony championships, while young Emma Burchill completed a fantastic day for the Skibbereen family, when Star Attraction became the mini pony champion.

Secretaries Eileen Collins and Paul Finn provided a perfect set of show results for The Irish Field, which considering this was their first year in office, was even more impressive.