BRED in Ballyconneely by Feichin and Kerry King, King Bunowen Castle Ali (Panda) won the mountain and moorland ridden Connemara pony of the year final at the Horse of the Year Show on Wednesday.

In a hugely competitive field, young rider Harlow White (GBR), who is just 14, held her own against the adults to triumph after a difficult year in which she suffered the setback of a broken ankle.

This nine-year-old gelding is by Best Shadow Melody out of Bunowen Castle Ellie (William’s Boy).

A clearly thrilled Kerry King said she was “absolutely delighted” to see a pony she and Feichin bred win on the big stage.

“I’m really happy, it’s an excellent result and he’s a beautiful horse. We still have his dam and she has a lovely filly this year by Glencarrig Douvan.

“We always knew he was special, he was a very classy foal, but we couldn’t show him as a foal because my husband was judging that year at Clifden, but when Jackie Webb bought him we knew he’d go on to big things. He is actually called after Muhammad Ali because I loved him as a child and I’m glad now I called him that! We are over the moon.”

Speaking on behalf of Harlow to The Irish Field was Harlow’s mother, Chelsea, who said: “Winning at HOYS was Harlow’s biggest dream. It’s Panda’s first-ever year at HOYS on the flat. He qualified last year as a working hunter pony on his second-ever attempt. Then, this year, we decided to focus on the flats with Harlow and him. He won the first HOYS qualifier of the year, then went on to win Royal International and went junior mountain and moorland champion. He also won two junior HOYS large breed classes this year too (and was also due to compete on Friday in the final after print deadline).

“We bought Panda as a mother-daughter share and what won us over was his incredible temperament. He is literally a saint of a pony. A friend of ours knew we were looking for a Connemara pony, and she saw someone’s wanted advert on Facebook, and there was a comment from the seller on there with a description of a pony that sounded exactly what we were looking for. He wasn’t officially advertised, so we popped a message and booked a viewing and fell in love. He was previously owned by Jackie Webb, who imported him over from Ireland as a youngster.”

The top eight ponies in this class were all bred in Ireland, including second-placed Copperbeech Encore (Glencarrig Knight x Carrowkeel Star), who was bred by Fiona and Tomás Grimes and ridden by Vikki Smith. Third-placed Loughmore Rebel (Brocklodge Buster x Wyncroft Hero) was bred by Sean Cooney, while fourth-placed Glencarrig Emperor (Glencarrig Knight x Glencarrig Princess) is owned by Kildare’s Aoife O’Connor and was bred by Gearoid Curran. Double Clifden Show champion Glencarrig Douvan (Glencarrig Knight x Wyncroft Dawn) was ridden into fifth by Ireland’s Grace Maxwell Murphy for breeder and owner Patrick Curran. Castle Kestrel (Glencarrig Knight x Castle Melody), sixth, was bred by Henry O’Toole, Lough Derg Star (Glencarrig Joe x Sellernane Beauty), seventh, was bred by Marie Collins and in eighth, the highest-placed mare Hazelrock Twist (Glencarrig Prince x Hazelrock Aris) was bred by Kieran McGrath.

A full report on Irish connections among the 2025 HOYS winners will appear in next week’s edition.