IT proved an unforgettable Dublin Horse Show week for Valerie Davis whose Castleview Lady Georgina retained her Dublin 2024 Irish Draught champion mare title, while, in an unprecedented double, Davis won her first Breeders’ Championship title the following day.

Kathleen Gielty-Cunney’s home-bred roan mare Foxford Nina won Thursday’s opening class for three and four-year-old mares.

By the former Dublin stallion champion Cappa Aristocrat, her three-year-old is out of the Inisfree The Holy Grail mare I Dream Of Ruby.

It was a Mayo one-two as the runner-up was Gerry Ferguson’s Oxview Lola (Inisfree The Holy Grail), although tuning up the Donegal attack was Gerard Sweeney’s Glenveagh Supreme Legacy (Moylough Legacy), third on her showring debut.

Some frequent champions were further down the line, including last year’s winner: Padraig Bohan’s now four-year-old Gortfadda Diamonds (Inisfree The Iron Cross). “Can’t ‘complain’, we’d a great Dublin last year,” said her sporting Leitrim owner.

The reigning champion Castleview Lady Georgina reclaimed her place at the top of the older mare class on Thursday morning and standing second was Pat Hoare’s home-bred Moylough Broadway (Coolcronan Wood). In third was Des McDonnell’s Silver View (Fast Silver), whose dam Elm View was a three-time Dublin champion.

In a mare championship, littered with Inisfree The Holy Grail and Coolcronan Wood lines, judges Claire Oliver and Julie Cornthwaite opted for Castleview Lady Georgina, then, as their reserve, the young mare class winner Foxford Nina.

Castleview Lady Georgina, the back-to-back winner of that most coveted piece of silverware in the Eileen Parkhill salver, was bred by Kenny and Wendy Bell. Now a seven-year-old, she is by their own Class 1 stallion Castleview Inisfree Farmer and out of the Coolcronan Wood mare, Castleview Princess.

A Gentleman and a Lady

The lengthy afternoon interval, while the three-year-old classes were judged, meant most Draught day trippers had gone home by the evening’s foal championship, although there was also an opportunity to watch the parade of Irish Draught stallion contenders in the interval.

First up was the colt foal class, won by Marcus Donnellan’s Suileen Gentleman, by Tors Gentleman Farmer and out of Miss Suileen Bouncer (Moylough Bouncer). The blue ribbon went to Linda O’Byrne and Ronan Stynes’ Lilliputs Kildare, yet another by Inisfree The Holy Grail and third to Richie Middleton’s Carrigbeg Glengarriff colt.

Dean Conaghan with Kenny and Wendy Bell’s Castleview Lady Charlotte, the champion Irish Draught foal with Sharon Mannion (IDHBA) at the 2025 Dublin Horse Show \ Susan Finnerty

He may have finished fourth in this class, but Pat Hoare’s Moylough Legacy colt (out of Moylough Broadway) and his handler Laura Tarpey received a round of applause from the spectators for his Mach 10 speed and her adept handling of this exuberant foal during their class.

As Moylough Broadway was also eligible for the earlier mare championship, it was a case of Laura lacing up her Dubarry shoes even tighter for a third circuit of Ring 1 during the colt foal class.

In the filly foal division, the Bells won with Castleview Lady Charlotte, by Moylough Supremacy.

Her close relative - Valerie Davis’s Cloughroe Lady Legacy (Supreme Legacy) - was third and separating this pair was Gerry Ferguson’s Oxview Hayley (Inisfree The Holy Grail).

There was one entry in the part-bred Draught class, in which Samantha Fitzsimons, Niamh Grimes and Maryclare Travers’ Carrafarm She’s Electric (Carrick Diamond Royale) enjoyed a walkover.

In the foal championship, it was Castleview bloodlines again with newly-married Emma Donnellan and road-walking athletics champion Matthew Newell, another speedy westerner, standing reserve with Suileen Gentleman.

Castleview Lady Charlotte’s foal champion title proved the first part of a unique double, as her sire Moylough Supremacy was champion stallion the following day.

All of this year’s Irish Draught mare and foal classes were sponsored by the Irish Draught Horse Breeders’ Association (IDHBA).

“I bought my first Draught mare - Princess - maybe 15, 16 years ago from Kevin Robinson in Donegal. She won Balmoral for me and then I sold the other mare to Valerie, because one mare is really enough for me.

“I suppose I’ll take the mare and foal next to Strokestown for the combination class and the stallion [Castleview Inisfree Farmer] is hopefully going to Dublin next year.

“And yes, the celebrations were really, really good!” Kenny said afterwards.