Susan Finnerty

JIM Harrison, the Irish Shows Association’s national president, continues to clock up miles in the final year of his voluntary role and fresh from a visit to Belgooly Show the previous day, arrived in Westport to perform the show’s official opening.

A no late entries policy may have disappointed some prospective entries but produced a proper catalogue. A greater deterrent to the usual crowds proved to be Sunday’s weather, which provided every element from sunshine to hailstones and also caused the cancellation of Monday’s show jumping classes.

Martin Murphy was undoubtedly the happiest exhibitor in the horse rings however as he won both the sport horse and Irish Draught championships. Reserve champion here last year with Black Beauty, he produced the Loughehoe Guy broodmare to go one better this year.

Bought from her previous Oranmore owner Pat Finn, the nine-year-old enjoyed a great run last year, including qualifying for The Irish Field Breeders Championship at Dublin where she placed in the top-10. The Galway County qualifier for this year’s attempt is pencilled in as her next outing.

Now scanned in foal to Emperor Augustus, she has an Elusive Emir filly foal at foot and with those sire choices, her owner is determined to stay breeding traditional, saying: “Her foal is going to make a perfect traditional mare, the type we had more of 20 years ago and if we lose traditional breeding and agricultural shows, we’re losing two ways to sell Irish horses.”

Reserve on this occasion was a frequent Westport champion in Dermot Gordon’s VDL Arkansas three-year-old. However, the Ballina owner had a good run in the earlier classes when he took both the champion and reserve titles with his youngstock.

Tom Grey and Patricia Hoey selected Gordon’s two-year-old Munther filly, bred by Kieran Fahey whose brother Declan had the supreme champion at Belgooly the previous day. Her stable companion, Gordon’s Elusive Emir yearling who had won the All Ireland traditional foal final at Mountbellew last year for breeder Noel Sheridan, stood reserve.

QUALIFIED

Westport was where Murphy qualified his Welcome Emperor filly Fuerty Princess for last year’s All Ireland final at Limerick, which she duly won for her Castle Gate Stud owner. The well-developed filly, “she’s big but she has the limbs to carry it” reasons Murphy, is now in foal to his Irish Draught stallion Harkaway Lionhawk and added Sunday’s Irish Draught title to her growing collection.

The reserve Irish Draught title went to another 2014 All Ireland champion in Eddie Murphy’s yearling by his own Inisfree The Holy Grail, who had won the colt foal final at Ballinasloe last October.

Kate McMahon won the open foal class with a Luidam full-brother to Kingshill Formal Affair, Seamus Lehane’s yearling winner on the Munster circuit this year, while Padraig Bohan’s good day continued when his broodmare Gortfadda Star and her Diamond Design foal continued to clock up red rosettes in the Irish Draught classes. Michael Casey and Sean Dunne had good quality Connemara classes to sort and found their junior champion in Michael Sweeney’s Bunowen Grey Lass, by Dunlaughan Troy, with the reserve title going to the other two-year-old class winner, Hillside Dancer, owned by Jarlath Grogan.

For the supreme Connemara championship, they opted for another homebred in Damien Gorham’s prolific Clifden winner Doonhill Misty Dawn. A four-year-old by Currachmore Cashel, she had won the young mare class and saw off the challenge of the other contenders to take the eventual championship. Standing reserve was Noel Noonan’s Lockinge Aconite, with the nine-year-old Lockinge Frederick mare now having joined his Manor Connemaras broodmare herd.

“We were very happy with the standard of the Connemaras here today,” remarked Dunne. “Our champion is a good mover, true to type, with lots of quality and bone.”

Young Mayo rider Stephen Gibbons’ name is now frequently seen in show jumping classes in The Irish Field results pages.

“Stephen has crossed over to the dark side!” laughed his mother Jane who showed her in-hand winner, Mayfield Butterfly, by Rolston Riverdance, in the supreme pony championship where the pair got the nod from the judge, Rosaleen Barry.