CORBEAGH House, the venue of many a Riding Club and Pony Club one-day event, staged a point-to-point for the first time last Sunday as the McGreal family invited two local harrier packs, the Westmeaths and Longfords, to hold a joint meeting at their dairy farm.

There were plenty of people from the sport horse industry involved with the fixture including show jumper Haley McCoppin who sponsored the turn-out award in each race. She missed most of the meeting but was present for the concluding older horses’ maiden for novice riders where the winner of the turn-out award, the Jim Dreaper-trained Mr Cosmopolitan, won the race by four lengths with Haley being among those who backed the Basanta gelding.

A sister of Dereck McCoppin who is currently competing in Ukraine, most recently winning a Grand Prix on the family’s Ard VDL Douglas mare Whiterock Lucky Lady, Haley was late arriving at the races as she had a lot of work to do at home. There are currently 33 three-year-old Connemara geldings ready to move on to new homes as well as a selection of hunters and Irish Sport Horses.

A qualified science teacher, now looking for a permanent position in a secondary school, Haley spent four years working with Weatherbys in Naas but found the commute to and from Longford each day too time-consuming. She has a couple of thoroughbred mares on the farm, where she receives plenty of help from her mother Margaret and father Ned, but is keen to sell these to concentrate on the sport horse side of the business.

Beneficial Lady, who was placed three times over hurdles in Ned’s colours, has a 2011 gelding by KEC Bluejay Diamond and two fillies (2012 and 2013) by the Pivotal stallion Sonny Mac, who the McCoppins formerly stood themselves.

The Longford family also own an unnamed six-year-old daughter of Beneficial who was broken at three but has done nothing since. Out of Welsh Sitara, she is a full-sister to Red Devil Lads who won a point-to-point in April 2013 for Donnchadh Doyle of Monbeg fame, after which he was sold for £140,000 at Brightwells.