IN advance of leading the parade of champions in the Laya Arena at the Gallagher Dublin Horse Show tomorrow (Sunday), the Duhallow Foxhounds had a practice run last Sunday in the Main Arena at the Tattersalls Ireland July Show. Parading the hounds were huntsman David Beecher, of the renowned Beecher family, who has just completed his first season with the pack. He was assisted by whipper-in Jamie Kelleghan, who moved to Co Cork earlier in the summer from the Ballymacads.

Later on Sunday afternoon, but also in the Main Arena, there was a display from the Jack de Bromhead Equine Centre which, based at the Child Vision Campus in Drumcondra, is named in memory of Jack who tragically died in a pony racing accident at Glenbeigh Races in September 2022 at just 13 years of age. The Centre, made possible through the vision of owner Chris Jones and the strength of Jack’s parents Henry and Heather, provides therapeutic benefits to children. Tattersalls Ireland is one of the sponsors of the Centre.

Present in the arena were Heather de Bromhead, Lucy Dillon (Chief Instructor), Chris Jones and Simon Kerins, CEO of Tattersalls Ireland.

Main Arena commentator Paul Nolan was kept busy over the three days of the Tattersalls Ireland July Show. This was particularly so on Sunday as, during breaks in the jumping action, he conducted a number of interviews, one being with Heather de Bromhead, Lucy Dillon and Simon Kerins following the display from the Jack de Bromhead Equine Centre. Another, just before the Plus Vital Premier Grand Prix, was with Timmy Brennan who had flown in from the FEI Jumping Young Rider Championships in Hagen, Germany, where he was a member of the silver medal-winning Team Ireland squad.

During one of the breaks for course changes in the Main Arena on Sunday, there was a special presentation to long-serving Show Jumping Ireland judge and commentator Gerry Thompson. Marking his many decades of distinguished service to the sport of show jumping, and to the Tattersalls Ireland July Show in particular, Gerry, who was accompanied by his wife Mary, was presented with a specially-engraved clock by show committee member Orla Griffin.

The late Eamonn Egan, who died in early June last year following a tragic accident at home, was honoured at last weekend’s Tattersalls Ireland July Show, where the open working hunter class on Sunday was named in his memory. In the show secretary’s office, there hung a framed photograph of the former Ward Union Hunt member, which was taken at the 2012 Dublin Horse Show where he competed in the racehorse to riding horse class on the 2005 Cheltenham Gold Cup winner Kicking King.