Sally Parkyn

THE result of a speedy response to an online advertisement, Kathy Charlton’s Noble Class was the stand-out winner of Wednesday evening’s three-year-old potential event horse class.

Much to the obvious delight of connections, the son of Cappa Cassanova significantly improved on his 10th placing from the earlier conformation and movement phase, progressing to head the jumping section by a clear six marks.

“In the final phase he was in a class of his own,” reported visiting judge Kai-Steffen Meier. “He had a fantastic canter and he jumped naturally - showing scope and technique through his body.”

Charlton had sourced her winner back in May, after answering an online advertisement posted by breeder Seamus Convery.

“I just loved the breeding, so we jumped in the car within five minutes of making the phone call and made the journey north to Co Down,” said the Borris-based producer. “We then saw him trot up and bought him on the spot.”

Within weeks Charlton produced her new purchase to fill second spot in the opening Warrington RDS qualifier, as well as a place for the Goresbridge Go For Gold sale in November.

One of just four traditionally bred horses in the field of 15, Noble Class is out of the unraced National Hunt mare The Marching Lass who is by Aristocracy.

The dam is sister to the blacktype winner Marching Marquis, as well as the 11 times winning performer Stanmore.

In these days of a strong National Hunt market, Convery explained his reasoning for going down the half-bred route. “I was getting a lot of fillies,” he said. “So on browsing through The Irish Field Directory I noticed the Irish Draught stallion Cappa Cassanova – and this was the result.”

Completing the circle and sharing in the celebrations was stallion owner Jimmy Quinn, who stands the seven-year-old Irish Draught (by Welcome Flagmount) in Headford, Co Galway.

As usual, the class was judged over two phases and this year was presided over by German event rider Kai-Steffen Meier.

He remarked that overall he was impressed by the quality of horses before him and was interested to note how they reacted in such a tension filled situation.

“It gives a clue to their character,” he said. ”Some are as cold as ice, some are otherwise.” Charlton’s entry (handled by Paddy Cleary) noticeably fell into the former bracket and Charlton knew that this quality would play to her advantage in the final phase. “We were quietly confident but you never know,” she added.

With €5,000 to the winner and generous monetary rewards for all qualifiers, it is no surprise that this class has now become a permanent and highly popular fixture in the Dublin schedule.

Fifteen starters from the five qualifiers came forward on Wednesday morning, where Meier assessed them on the flat. An unfortunately placed loudspeaker added to the electric atmosphere around the ringside and in many cases the German had a tough task to assess some at all. Going into the evening session it was Padraig Howley’s Sligo Candy One (Sligo Candy Boy) who held the lead on 41.0, from Hillowan Chill (Chillout) and Castlerichmond Star (Lancelot) both sharing 39.0.

With a further 100 marks up for grabs in the evening jumping session, it came as no surprise to see the order change significantly.

Meier made no excuses for horses that looked over prepped and with plenty of scope to adjudicate in detail, he awarded his final scores for jumping technique, canter, star quality, temperament and standard of training.

Setting a high standard the eventual winner produced a smooth, natural performance to score 82 (total of 117), a figure that was never headed. Despite holding the early advantage, Howley’s Sligo Candy One Boy filled the runner-up spot on a final total of 116, while gaining the second best jumping mark of the day (78), and that of the best mare was James O’Haire’s third placed HFS Eclipse (115.5).

Howley’s eye-catching reserve, by the owner’s resident stallion Sligo Candy Boy, was bred by Michael Dunleavey out of Persian Jenny by High Roller.

Hailing from a successful family, he is a half-brother to the American-based event horse Luyu, who was a €27,000 graduate from the Go For Gold sale back in 2011. The gelding was notably over ebullient in the first phase where his antics on the flat were responsible for a nasty injury to the hand of handler Tiernan Gill. As a result, he was later presented by Andrew Gardiner and in the final stage by Edmund Hennigan.

HFS Eclipse meanwhile is the first progeny out of Aldatus Clover Gold (Aldatus Z) and was sourced from her breeder, M.J. Kavanagh at Goresbridge earlier in the year.

Also performing well, Barry Heffernan’s consistent Castlerichmond Star filled fourth (115), from Stephen Kelliher’s unnamed gelding by Ringwood Harley Carol (110.5) and Hillowan Chill (109.5).