GEORGE O’Malley is one of the most delightful characters you come across at shows, brimful of old school courtesy, integrity and genuine charm.

Schooldays as a Kings Hospital boarder quickly dispensed with; “I enjoyed the sport but not the academic side!” - he preferred travelling to Dublin for the Horse Show. “We used to ride the ponies from Mohill down to Dromod station and we always enjoyed the journey up. There was a train siding opposite the RDS, where the AIB bank is now, and they took the horses off there. I used to hear that Jack Bamber would hire his own train to bring all his horses to Dublin,” he said, recalling the famous northern owner’s transport arrangements.

He first entered Dublin in 1944 and some of his fondest memories are of his sister Patricia winning a jumping championship and competing his dock-tailed pony, Bingo. The O’Malley family hit the jackpot with this one, first spotted by Ballina dealer Joe McGowan at Maam Cross fair and sold afterwards to Marshall Parkhill. “He wasn’t quite 13.2 but I had great success with that pony. Joe brought him to a gymkhana in Drumshanbo on Easter Sunday where Dad bought him for 30 quid. Joe was a noted horseman in the West, all the McGowans were all great horsemen.

“I was lucky, some foreign photographer took a photo of me jumping in the main arena with the big grandstand in the background. I still have it.” A second favourite photograph records a prize-giving presentation with Lord Granard at Longford show, where the versatile Bingo won a showing, jumping and driving classes hat-trick. “We even used to drive him to shows in a tub car.”

Another sweet victory was on home turf. “Monkey McGovern won the stone wall in Dublin one year for the McEntees. They came to Mohill Show with four or five horses and didn’t I beat him with my own horse Leitrim. It was such a lift beating Monkey in my home town.”

George and his late wife Nuala resumed the show circuit when their children George, Stewart and Susan were competing ponies. “George won the 12.2 class in Ballinasloe for Joe McGowan and then won the 14.2 class there for us with a half-Connemara named Little Richard one year. We were knocking on the door at Dublin, no wins but always there or thereabouts.”

The family’s turnout skills earned a clean sweep at a Bord na gCapall sale held in Galway racecourse. “The late John Moore, David’s father, was the motivator of that sale. There was a piece in the paper about my family, we won first and second prizes for turnout. I also had a Connemara there that Mick Connors bought, he had Mrs Connors ride the pony up the field and it was Miley Cash that made the price.”

He is another to remark on how horse prices haven’t kept pace with inflation, noting that one of the top-priced sale lots back then “could have bought a farm.”

A successful shopping spree in Sligo paid dividends. “Pat Healy mentioned to me about a couple of foals down that way, they had some lovely stallions at their stud in Ballymote.” Having bought two, he gave the colt foal to his son. “George was in Patricia Nicholson’s yard at that time and came third at Dublin with him. The following year we showed the Dual filly [the other Ballymote buy] in Dublin. George had broken his ankle so Philip Scott showed her for us and she won her class. Then we put her in the Tattersalls sale, it was the year that Dawn Run was in it. Peter McCreery and Paddy Mullins were judging and they finished up with five horses, Dawn Run, the Dual filly and three geldings. Young George showed her that day and she came out on top.”

Like Dawn Run, their winner met a premature end for her next owner. “In her very first point-to-point run, she broke her leg and that was the end of her,” said George regretfully.

The family had better luck with their runners. “We had a bit of fun with the racehorses,” notes George, who swapped a Middle Temple horse “bought from Pat Carty’s father”, for a thoroughbred mare in a deal with Clem McMahon’s father. In foal to Little Sandy - “he stood in Monaghan and his fee was a tenner” - the resultant filly, Pasadena Parade, won a bumper at Roscommon with Sandra Scott. “Her father Bernie, was very good to me when we were training the horses.”

“I bought Mourne Prince out of young Jim Dreaper’s yard. George won two point-to-points with him and was second in a hunter chase. The late John Fowler won that race.”

The late Frances Cash’s name has been frequently mentioned in this series and George is no exception. “She was some horsewoman, some point-to-point rider,” said George, recalling seeing her win two races at a point-to-point held at Abbeyshrule airfield, with one winner, Barouche, later sold to the Waley-Cohens.

Another anecdote involves picking the right horse. “Myself and George junior were sitting on the ramp at Longford Show when Ned Cash came over and asked would you show a horse in the championship. Frances was in it with a big, handsome middleweight called Ferrybridge, that had won in Dublin. Jack Deacon was judging and I came into the ring with this Ozymandias three-year-old at a jog, just letting out his trot. Jack pulled us in, while Frances was still going round and I got the championship with their other horse!”

Ozymandias and Bahrain are two stallions recalled by George. Other household names “and I’m going back over 30 years” included Water Serpent, Blue Cliff, Autumn Gold, Nordlys, “then there were great horses in Galway; Middle Temple and Renwood. Vincent Faughnan had a horse called Lahinch, he was by Laughton, he was another great getter. Merrion was a good sire and Errigal, that stood with Ned Byrne in Park House Stud, they’d be the Draught horses that would stick in my mind.”

George went to Byrnes to cover his Irish Draught mare with Bahrain. “I was friendly with Paddy Byrne in Tullow, very nice people. I had this mare by Baltic Hero, he was a Draught stallion I owned and I was invited to show him in Dublin for three years, no class, just an invitation then.

“Bahrain was a grand horse and got plenty of nice stock. The mare had a filly foal and my late wife and myself showed them, that would be 1978. She won in Ballymahon, Athlone, Roscommon, five or six shows in all, then won the Fair Green prize at Ballinasloe and was second in the All Ireland filly foal final there. I won £130 for being first and second, it was great prize money at that time and you had no expenses.”

NEW CAREER

Meeting Bord na gCapall’s Vincent McGill at the prize-giving opened up a new career. “He presented me with the second prize and said, ‘Do you ever do judging? I must put your name forward.’ He was a lovely gentleman. Vincent Magill triggered the whole judging thing.”

It also led to a spell serving as an examiner for Bord na gCapall’s ICES and IDES exams, the forerunner of today’s equestrian science courses. “Myself and William Micklem did them in Kelletts. William is an out-and-out gentleman, so knowledgable, I always had great conversations with him.”

More lifelong friends George made through the showring include Michael Dooner, who he first met at Mohill Show. “He roped me in to give him a hand, I really enjoy going round the shows with Michael. He never puts any pressure on, just great company. We had a good bit of success, plenty of fun and that’s what showing is about.”

Tiernan Gill senior and Derek Rothwell are two late friends recalled. “I always enjoyed meeting them, I just hit it off with Tiernan and Derek Rothwell was another man I truly enjoyed meeting at shows.”

Renowned for his encouragement and kindly advice to exhibitors, George was a popular judge.

Did he like judging? “99.9% of the time! I love the quality, I love judging as near thoroughbred as you can get.”

In recent times, George has devoted his time to caring for his partner Ellie at their Kenagh home. The couple still keep a pair of thoroughbred broodmares but with modest expectations. “Small boats keep near the shore,” he remarks.

His daughter Susan, who previously managed a riding school in Saudi Arabia, is another judge. ‘She was a good little pilot too,” says her father fondly, while her brother George has also moved home, from the States.

“He lives just up the road and he still keeps in touch with Eddie,” adds his namesake, referring to George’s time working with the show jumping legend in Germany.

“Eddie Macken was a supreme horseman. Eddie was a once-off and that’s the story. He was class.”

Class. Another adjective to describe George O’Malley.