RINCOOLA was the venue last Saturday for the final qualifier for the performance Irish Draught, Connemara performance hunter and ridden Connemara championships at next month’s Dublin Horse Show.
One person who would dearly love to win in the Ballsbridge showgrounds is Co Kilkenny accountant Jenny Williams who landed the Irish Draught title in 2021 on Gneeve King William but that was during the Covid-affected season when the championship was held at Lamberstown.
Her willing partner in Section B of the six-year-old and upwards class on Saturday was the 2018 Kiltybane Naldo gelding Ballyrussell Misty on whom she competed at Dublin last season having purchased the grey just weeks before the start of the 2024 qualifiers.
“I’d heard about the horse from Diarmuid Ryan who was producing him for Simon Kelly,” said Williams. “Diarmuid hunted him a bit for us last winter and won the huntsman class on him at the Kildare performance hunter show at Punchestown in March.”
Gneeve King William, who has since been sold, was partnered for Williams at Dublin last year by British international event rider Nicky Roncoroni at whose Castlekenny Equestrian yard Ballyrussell Misty is kept on livery. This gives Williams and husband Ian more time to concentrate on the show jumping career of their seven-year-old son Max and the lead rein campaign of daughter Sophie (four).
The ridden phase judges on Saturday were Denis Norton and Marian Condron while, as at the Young Eventhorse Series final the previous Tuesday, the official jumping judge on Saturday was Trish Collins with Bets Coleman filling the role of rhythm and fluency assessor.
Ballyrussell Misty, who was bred in Co Down by Donna Rice out of the Huntingfield Rebel mare Rosco Rebel, finished on 233.5 points. The six-year-old Clooneen Sea King gelding Shanbally It Takes Two, who was ridden by Co Galway’s Maria McNamara for her father Tom, amassed 229 points to finish second.
Keating on form
The sole horse to qualify in Section A was the 12-year-old Captain Moonlight (244.5 points) who was ridden by Co Kildare’s Ali Keating, as he was in 2023, for her mother Yvonne Connolly. The Young Carrabawn bay was bred in Co Galway by William Moran out of the Coille Mor Hill mare Coradh Clover.
Disappointingly for his connections, and Irish Draught breeders in general who may have liked to see how the grey coped with competing in this performance class at Dublin, the six-year-old Carrabawn Cross stallion Ballybawn Diamond was too far off the winner in second (230.5) to bag a ticket under Jessica Murphy.
Section A of the class for four and five-year-olds was won by half a point by the 2020 mare Glenford Margie (230.5), who is ridden by Tynagh-based Scottish international event rider Becky Scott for Ria O’Callaghan. Bred in Co Galway by Padraig Naughton, this chesnut daughter of Goldsmithcountry Oliver is out of the Drumri mare Auntie Ger.
Maintaining their good record of qualifying young Irish Draughts for Dublin, Hollypark Horses claimed the second ticket on offer here through the David Raeburn-ridden Hollypark Rock On Rocko, who just narrowly failed to top the leaderboard when completing on 230. Also bred in Co Galway by Tom Burke, this grey son of Carrickrock Close Shave is out of the Fintan Himself mare Castlegar Judy.
The rider/owner duo of Co Mayo’s Amy Grady and her granduncle Michael qualified a six-year-old, The Countess of Murrisk, at Tullylish and here bagged a spot in the four and five-year-old final through the Section B winner Murrisk Paudie (238.5). By the same sire, Farmhill Highlander, this five-year-old home-bred grey gelding is out of Ashlawn Star (by Agherlow).