IT takes a good horse to win the All-Ireland three-year-old final at Bannow and Rathangan, with its mix of types and a big ring to stand out from. John Burchill’s Ballard Highway Lad stole the show from this year’s beautifully-produced group to top Rebecca Curtis and John Lenihan’s line-up.

Saved by a sea breeze from the nearby Kilmore Quay coastline, another scorching day brought crowds out in droves for the 75th anniversary of this popular show.

‘Hydration breaks’ - now very much a feature of World Cup matches - were always part of the Bannow final.

One change to the usual format was in judging the best-turned-out combination at the start of the 2.5-hour long final. This allowed any exhibitor to take off their tweed jackets before the laps began.

Finalists traditionally line up in numerical order before the start of the Bannow final and the first opportunity to produce that eye-catching ‘flash’ up the long side of the sloping ring.

At the judge’s request this year, the finalists then remained in numerical order in the centre of the ring as each horse came forward before the judges for their conformation and movement assessment.

This worked well in adding to the suspense of the final verdict before John Burchill’s Ballard Highway Lad was called in to top the line, much to the delight of a vocal West Cork group of supporters gathered ringside.

Having qualified in May at Midleton, it was Burchill’s first time to win this final with the Another Pleasure son. His champion’s Castlelawn Captain Junior - Colin Diamond dam is the traditionally-bred mare Sionhill Sarah.

Bought as a foal from his Westmeath breeder Michael Carey by Seamus Lehane, Ballard Highway Lad won at a number of shows last summer, including the young horse championship at Newcastle West with Lehane, before his sale to the Skibbereen family.

“I’m speechless! It’s my first time to win the Bannow final. Dublin next, then we’ll break him,” John said afterwards.

Brendan Newell with his All Ireland reserve champion and top-placed filly Kilcahill Ruby, his two sons Grof and Matthew and James Callaghan, Galway Crystal/Belleek Living \ Susan Finnerty

Top filly

Brendan Newell is another unflappable exhibitor, but a whoop of delight when Kilcahill Ruby’s number was called was proof enough of what the result meant to the Claregalway showman.

The Financial Reward traditionally-bred home-bred came close to joining Rebecca Monahan’s Notalot - the only filly to win here since this All-Ireland final began as a cross-border initiative in 1999. Current Bannow Show president Walter Kent has been a constant supporter of the final ever since.

“Absolutely thrilled. An early start this morning, but worth it. We’re absolutely over the moon. Matthew and Grof, my sons, were here with me, we left at 6.30am, so almost six hours travelling, but this is what we do. We’re not into hurling or anything else, this is our sport.

“We think a lot of her. We’ve had a lot of enquiries to sell her but, you know, why would you? This is what we do and we’ll keep her. Matthew, he’s only 17, broke her at the back end of last year, so she’s riding away lovely and the plan next year, if everyone stays safe and healthy, she’ll be in Dublin next year under saddle,” added Brendan.

Trevor Horgan, successful national hunt jockey-turned-exhibitor, took third place with his Dudley Tom, by a sire that now regularly features among the Bannow prize winners: the Cornet Obolensky son HHS Cornet. He had qualified at Bandon Show.

Like the Newell’s reserve champion, Niamh and Darragh Glynn secured early qualification at the very first agricultural show of the season, Newmarket on Fergus. Their VG Elusive Knight subsequently moved up to fourth place at Bannow - see Champions round-up - and is by Niamh’s father John Varley’s 2015 Croker Cup champion Elusive Emir out of the Aughrim Knight mare, Mary’s Lady.

Also now moving up a place to fifth was Des McDonnell’s Lucky Jim, another home-bred, this time by Conticco and out of the Voss daughter, Lady Finesse.

John Lenihan later confirmed that their sixth-placed choice in this revised line-up is Regina Daly’s Timpany Tiger Too, by Tiger Attack. His dam is his breeder Paula Howard’s Breeders’ Championship-winning mare Dernahatten Out Of Touch.

Justice to the horses

“We thought it was a very, very good, deep class,” Ballyogue Stud owner Lenihan remarked, before the various presentations. “I hope we didn’t delay people too long, but it took us a while to get a lineup we were happy with and felt did justice to the class. The producers deserve a good look, there’s no rushing a decision.

“We pulled them in in numerical order at the start and I think that gave everybody watching a chance to look at the horses a bit more without second guessing what the judges were looking for, so that was a fair way to do it.

“Maybe somebody else would rather we pulled them in in their order of merit, but I think numerical order gave us a better chance to study them. I think it’s fair for everybody and puts the handlers under less pressure as well, because they’re in numerical order and don’t drop down or move up.”

“It did justice to the horses and to the effort that was made by all the producers to have them looking and behaving so well, because it’s not an easy job and they did a super job.”

In accordance with the revised line-up (which did not affect the original top-three places), Kilcahill Ruby was the sole filly in this year’s top six and the highest-placed Traditional Irish Horse. There were four TIHs - two more than 2025 - in this year’s final.

She duly claimed the highest-placed filly prize at Bannow and has also qualified for the All-Ireland three-year-old filly final, held in Tydavnet (Saturday, August 15th).

As an added bonus, Ballard Highway Lad and his handler were judged the best turned out of a stellar group at the start of the final, while the champion’s breeder Michael Carey will also receive a prize from longtime sponsors Galway Crystal/Belleek Living. Bannow Show Society themselves sponsored the prize money for this year’s final.

Champions round-up

WITH the All-Ireland final taking centrestage in Ring 9 - plus the show jumping rings, that’s how big this show is - getting to see other championships first-hand is as ‘easy’ as finding All-Ireland hurling final tickets for tomorrow.

Both the young horse and broodmare classes were over before the All-Ireland flag was raised and, with Julie Radden’s Breeders’ 10 scheduled for this week (see page 71), it was a timely win for her home-bred Lakelands Gucci.

Edward Flaherty with Julie Radden’s Bannow and Rathangan young horse champion: Lakelands Gucci \ Susan Finnerty

The HHS Cornet three-year-old recently topped Newcastle West Show’s potential event horse qualifier for Dublin and was Tim Carey’s champion choice, ahead of Des and Margaret Jeffares’s Ballykelly Fairy II (pictured on page 2).

For good measure, the Drinagh couple also won the broodmare championship with ‘Fairy’s’ relative Ballykelly Jasmine.

Reserve champion broodmare was John Roche’s Assagart Hopeful (Castleforbes Lord Lancer) out of his Breeders’ Championship-winning mare My Only Hope. Hopeful’s Call Me Number One filly was the foal champion.

Gorey exhibitors cleaned up in the Irish Draught championship, won by Amelia and Paul Rossiter’s three-year-old Clogheen Ace of Spades (Kilmovee Lionhawk), ahead of Michael Goland’s Devlin Dolly Duby (Heigh Ho Dubh).

Aileen Dwyer (ride) and Diana Gibson (conformation) were on duty in the ridden horse ring, where the hunter champion was Louise and John Cusack’s Clonaslee Master Dobby (Clonaslee Captain Cristo), with Leila Oakman’s Northern Master (Barely A Moment) in reserve. Their ridden horse champion and reserve choices were Jennifer Kennedy’s cob winner Moneycross, and Laura Reynolds’ Fred Show Time.

Reverse placings

Carole Adams’s overall in-hand pony champion was Jerry Maloney’s Barryroe Princess Honeysuckle (Hilin Oriole) and Barossa Stud’s Barossa Legacy (Rathnaleen Sinatra) was the reserve at their local show. Earlier, this pair had reverse placings in the pony youngstock championship.

More pony winners included Fiona Goor’s Underhill Bobcat and Aine Brennan’s Captain Bailey, while the Mountain & Moorland champion was Edwina O’Connor’s Springbourne Commodore, ahead of Jim Casey’s Lawkholme Apollo.

The humble donkey had their time in the sun too, with Truffles winning the championship for owner Margaret Crews.

“The problem of late entries, entries on the day and sparse breeding details in the catalogue has been a bugbear yet again this summer. Bar local family pony and clear round jumping classes, surely a blanket ban on late entries could be introduced to make the lot of these volunteer secretaries and stewards an easier one,” read a paragraph from last year’s Bannow and Rathangan report.

Another unfortunate issue this year was an ineligible three-year-old in Bannow’s All-Ireland final, whose paperwork was accepted in good faith on the day. In response to a follow-up query from The Irish Field, the Irish Shows Assocation national secretary Jim Harrison had this response:

“Following the All-Ireland Three-Year-Old Final, an irregularity was identified in relation to one of the qualifying horses. The matter was investigated by the Irish Shows Association and it was established that the horse, which had finished fourth in the final, was not eligible to compete.

Amended

“As a result, the placings were amended, with the horses originally placed fifth, sixth and seventh each moving up one place. All affected owners have been notified of the revised results.

“The qualifying paperwork for this particular animal had not been received by the ISA from Midleton Show. We wish to make it clear that Midleton Show were not at fault in this matter.”

Nor was the final’s host show, as any finalist will attest to the fact that the Bannow and Rathangan secretary Liz Freeman is exceedingly meticulous and thorough. Bona fide finalists typically receive up to three phone calls to check if stabling is required and if the qualified horse is in fact travelling to the show. “The procedure for All-Ireland qualifiers is that the host shows forward the official qualifying documentation to the Irish Shows Association, following the qualifying class. That documentation is then used in the administration of the championship final and forwarded to the show hosting the final for publication in their catalogue,” the statement continued.

“The ISA is satisfied that, once the irregularity came to light, it was investigated promptly and the appropriate corrective action was taken to ensure the final placings accurately reflected the eligible competitors.”

Everyone makes mistakes. However, going forward, a cast-iron system is needed to ensure All-Ireland finalist lists are 100% accurate. Because little escapes the ringside judges either.

Around the ringside

Des and Margaret Jeffares with their Bannow winners: Ballykelly Fairy II and Ballykelly Jasmine \ Susan Finnerty

  • A special book brought out to celebrate Bannow’s 75th anniversary quickly sold out and is in the process of being reprinted.
  • A familiar face missing from the ‘A-team’ of All-Ireland final stewards was Eamon Furlong. Last Thursday was his 80th birthday and Eamon has never missed a Bannow and Rathangan Show. The Irish Horse World sends get-well and birthday wishes to this lovely character.
  • Galway Crystal/Belleek Living’s James Callaghan naturally tipped the Tribesmen to win tomorrow’s All-Ireland hurling final. The longstanding sponsor’s representative at Bannow each year is also involved with the Galway hurling team.
  • Seamus Lehane, the champion’s former owner, had already won the Bannow final with Ballard Eagle (Master Imp. Breeder: Denis Collins) and then judged the 2013 final with the late Con Power. “It was an honour to judge with him,” he said about the Wexford show jumping legend.
  • Ballard Eagle (2010) and Master Playboy (2004) both won the Laidlaw Cup for the Dublin young horse champion. Instead of buying a motorbike, a young John Hayes bought the Big Sink Hope colt foal that was to win that RDS title for him 22 years ago. Aughrim Knight, the damsire of the Glynn’s VG Elusive Knight is a half-brother to Master Playboy.
  • There’s more than a touch of a Colin Diamond resemblance seen in Ballard Highway Lad and it turns out that both Sionhill Sarah, his dam and Kilcahill Diamond, the Colin Diamond dam of the Newell’s reserve, are related. Both trace back to Kilcahill Lady, the foundation mare owned by Brendan’s late father Tom.
  • John Burchill’s daughter Deirdre claimed the Belleek Living best-turned-out prize. “Definitely for me! That’s all my stitching [plaits] in the horsebox with one hour to go. I actually came from Dublin and left at nine, the family left at six o’clock. It’s always a long journey from West Cork, no matter where you go.”
  • She’s looking forward to her winter project breaking in last Thursday’s champion. “No saddle on yet, we’ll let him enjoy his in-hand season and, over the winter, he’ll be broken and then I’m very much looking forward to bringing him out next year.”
  • All going to plan, it will be interesting to see the 2026 Bannow champion and reserve renew friendly rivalries next year under saddle. Matthew Newell, who competes in road walking and was at the world team championships in Brazil in April, may miss Dublin Horse Show next month. “Hopefully, I’ll be in Oregon at the world championships.”
  • Rebecca Monahan’s Notalot (Lancelot. Breeder: Jim Wallace) remains the only filly to have won the Bannow final back in 2015. She was later sold to Margaret Jeffares, who had a good day at Bannow. “Ballykelly Jasmine [broodmare champion] is by Gortfree Hero, out of Ballykelly Hi Hope, by Big Sink Hope, who stood with Stevie Russell in Co Clare. She was out of Ballykelly Sport Horses foundation mare Corrib Eva, going back to the Triggerero mare Corrib Countess. Jasmine is in foal to the thoroughbred stallion Awesome Star, standing with Declan McMahon in Co Clare and is due to foal in March 2027. She won the dry mare class and then went on to take the broodmare championship today, winning both the Andy White and Nick Gore Memorial Cups. Jasmine’s half-sister Ballykelly Fairy II had her showring debut at Bannow and won the three-year-old filly class, the Traditional Young Horse of the Show. She then went on to win overall reserve champion young horse. She’s by the thoroughbred stallion Lucarelli, standing with Eamon and Gladys McArdle at Drumhowan Stud, and is out of Ballykelly Hi Hope.”