IT was an early start all around Tralee last Saturday, between the Pieta House Darkness Into Light fundraising walk and for the two-day Kingdom County Show committee members.

Saturday’s bright and breezy weather was ideal for the showing classes, while Sunday’s show jumping and livestock classes were in footfall competition with the Munster Senior Football Final, held in nearby Killarney.

The opening day’s supreme horse championship was judged by 3.30pm, when John Crowley’s wait paid off, when his two-year-old home-bred Bridevalley Frankie won this overall title.

Low numbers in young-horse classes are a nationwide trend in recent years. Several ringside theories are constantly put forward about the drop in entries and in-hand judge Tony Purcell had his own astute view. “There were a couple of nice horses in the classes. Numbers were down, which is a pity. Is it too early [in the show season]? No, it’s more the cost and expense and a lot of young people are not getting into showing like the older generation did.

“The quality of horses you can’t get either. The real show horse is gone, as well as the older ones [exhibitors]. That’s just my personal opinion. If you want the show horse, and I had enough down through the years, they were always by a thoroughbred. You always got nice show horses, you always got movement, you got the temperament.”

He found his young horse champion in the two-year-old section: Crowley’s Bridevalley Frankie, last year’s All-Ireland yearling champion at Barryroe.

By the Irish Draught stallion Dunsandle Diamond, the chesnut gelding is out of the Loughehoe Guy mare Bridevalley Zara. “She’s a daughter of Kilshinihan Lass (Big Sink Hope) that won the Breeders’ Championship in 2008 for John and Cathal Dinneen.” Dublin is a possibility for Crowley’s traditional-bred, “but with three young children, it’s hard to organise that week!”

Hollypark Hunt Ball with William McMahon, wife Grace Maxwell Murphy and family at Kingdom County Show \ Susan Finnerty

William McMahon and wife Grace Maxwell Murphy were also busy with two and four-legged youngsters at Tralee. William had a sprint back to the ridden horse ring after their Gleann Rua Pashmina picked up the reserve young horse champion sash.

This Chillout three-year-old filly, bred by Paul Cleary, is one of a half-dozen offspring of the Crosstown Dancer mare, Glenkeeran Danceintherain. “She’s a full-sister to [2024 Balmoral supreme hunter champion] Madra Rua,” said William, about the grey, now qualified for the All-Ireland final in July at Bannow & Rathangan.

Worth his weight in Gold Dust

With a similar decline in pony youngstock entries, the lot of breeding show pony and hunter stock in this country now falls on a small number of breeders. The gap in these classes is now often filled by the versatile Connemara and, unsurprisingly, two took home the Kerry Kingdom sashes.

Purcell’s in-hand pony champion was Jason Rogers’ Seafield Silver AJ colt, Gleann Óir Oakley. Palomino Irish Draughts have been a feature of the Horse Sport Ireland stallion inspections in recent years, and Rogers’ two-year-old is on the same colour chart.

Winning at his local show was special for Rogers, whose champion is, “known as Anakin, as in Star Wars - the chosen one!” He was bred by Cáit Hennessy in Cashel, Co Tipperary. I bought him when he was about two months old, he’s an outcross and the plan for the future is to do carriage driving with him. He’ll be standing at stud in Tralee.”

Eimear Coleman’s Doohulla Dunally yearling filly was Purcell’s reserve champion. “I thought his [champion] movement and presence was second to none. Nothing else moved like him. The reserve was a lovely filly, she moved better in the championship than she did in her class and I think she’s an extremely attractive filly.”

Green White and Gold: Jason Rogers with his in-hand pony champion Gleann Óir Oakley \ Susan Finnerty

In the ridden pony ring, Carole Adams’ first champion of her day was Tara Rocca Houlihan’s mini winner Bronheulog Gold Dust, piloted by son Enzo, who had a memorable weekend (see Pony Tales page 98).

This Welsh Section A grey, by Eyarth Figaro, has enjoyed a springtime winning streak in the mini pony section (lead rein through 123cm show hunter classes). The Limerick pair have won championships at the Limerick Harriers show, as well as the respective mini supreme and mini show hunter titles at Tipperary IPS and the Irish Pony Society (IPS) spring championship show in Barnadown.

“He’s had a great season so far with Bronheulog Gold Dust. He was also reserve mini champion at the Winter Woollies show in Garranemore and at Newmarket on Fergus, reserve mini supreme at the Limerick/Clare Area Spring Show and finished second in the under 10s at the Pony Club national dressage day,” said mum, Tara about this pair, who also won the cradle stakes class in the Kingdom County working hunter ring.

“A change is as good as a rest”

Lindeth Question Mark, the ridden pony champion, proved no April fool. “This is a new partnership, with ‘Poppy’ only arriving from the UK on April 1st, from the field!” owner Sasha Smith Auliffe said about the 153cm show hunter, ridden by her daughter Jessica.

“‘Jess’ was also coming back from a two-year showing sabbatical, as she concentrated on Pony Club fun, mainly show jumping.”

The reserve champion was Lauren McElligott’s Doon Nuadha, another example of the multi-tasking Connemara breed, as the Sean Luskin-bred also won the working hunter championship.

“I liked the champion from the start, he [Lindeth Question Mark] was a quality pony with a sympathetic rider. For the reserve, I had another one initially picked out, but when I went behind the line-up, that pony [Doon Nuadha] had a better engine.

“So you really do have to see them from all angles - a nice, broad chest in front and then just fully matching up behind,” said Carole, explaining why she picked out the pair.

“There were some very nice ponies here and this [country show] is more like a learning curve. It was nice to see children out enjoying their ponies and I thought they were all very polite.”

By Newgrange Lad, Doon Nuadha’s busy day included winning the Aileen Lombard-judged championship in the working hunter ring, a section that typically draws good entries. Sinead Walsh’s Dunbeggan Caesar won the mini championship, ahead of Fiona Prenderville’s Juggling Jester and Jack Sparrow, owned by Louise Collins, was reserve in the open championship to Doon Nuadha.

Shanacrane Lad, the after-school buy and Rosarie Collins \ Susan Finnerty

Winners alright

The ridden hunter championship was the second Kingdom County reserve title to be won by an owner with the same surname. Rosarie Collins’ flashy chesnut gelding Shanacrane Lad was reserve to William McMahon’s Hollypark Hunt Ball, himself the ridden horse reserve champion the previous Sunday at Newmarket on Fergus.

William’s sprint back to the lorry after the young horse championship paid off, after the Drishane Diamond grey, bred by Mike McDonagh, won the opening class and then was Emily Woods and Glenn Knipe’s ridden hunter champion.

The boom in Connemara ponies has been matched by the Irish Draught market. From being considered near-worthless, compared to fillies, there’s now a strong demand for colt foals and youngstock for breed and hunter ridden classes.

It was another breed, though, that won the overall ridden title. Birchdale won the thoroughbred class, then saw off the challenge of Mary Davoren O’Regan’s amateur class winner: Ballyglass Green Valley (Baltydaniel Romeo) in the ridden horse championship.

“JP Manus and family kindly gave us Birchdale (Jeremy) in January 2025 and Champagne Platinum (Stowaway) that April, after I got this idea to go back into the ridden ring after a break from riding hunters and riding horses for over 16 years. The last horse I rode was My Little Giant,” said delighted new owner Breid Shannon about this pair of 12-year-olds.

“Birchdale took a bit longer to get the idea of being a pretty show horse, so I decided to take Champagne Platinum to the show ring. We went to Midleton, finished second in the Treo Eile novice qualifier and third in the final. He also went to Cork, where he won, but decided to skip Dublin last year, as he needed more time under his belt.

“He [Birchdale] won the Risk Of Thunder cross-country race and the Leopardstown Chase during his racing career and Champagne won the Wilkinstown Beginners Chase at Navan in his day, along with a few others. None of this would be possible without JP and [trainer] Enda Bolger looking after them so well during their careers.”

Winner Alright: Breid Shannon aboard Birchdale, the ridden horse and reserve supreme horse champion \ Susan Finnerty

In the supreme horse championship, the combined judges opted for John Crowley’s young horse champion with Birchdale as the ‘runner-up’. “We really liked the young horse that took home the supreme. It was lovely to see a traditional-bred horse with lots of movement, presence and quality,” remarked Emily Woods.

Around the ringside

  • This Tralee show was previously held at the local racecourse, which was sold in September 2024 to the Ard-Rí Group for €5 million for development. The new Kingdom County Show site in Ballymacthomas, 10 minutes from the town centre, was bought in the late 1970s and was developed when the racecourse was put up for sale. 2022 was the first year the show took place at Ballymacthomas.
  • “This is my second year as show chairman,” said Michael Costello. “We’ve a great committee behind us and a lovely site with over 20 acres. We have a good crowd today, even though it’s a Saturday, and the Grand Prix is on tomorrow. At the moment, we have 16 entries [for the Connolly’s Red Mills/Munster SJI Grand Prix round], which is very good, because we’re down at the bottom of the country and there’s a lot of other competitions.”
  • It was a Kingdom County win in that Kellihers Mills-sponsored Grand Prix for rider Jack Geaney aboard Seamus Madden’s Next Star (Emir R). Jack’s late grandfather, Dr Donal Geaney, bred Mr Medicott (Cruising) in Castleisland. Originally named Crag Cave, he was the United States Eventing Association’s Horse of the Year in 2012, the year he finished ninth individually at the London Olympics with Karen O’Connor (USA). Two places above the pair at London was the recent loss: Master Crusoe (Master Imp. Breeder: Phyllis and Michael Doyle). The Wexford-bred was competed at the Olympics by Aoife Clark, with the pair finishing eighth at Badminton the following spring.
  • Paul Cleary, Madra Rua and Gleann Rua Pashmina’s breeder, is now more usually spotted at the show jumping ringside. Son James recently qualified at Mullingar for Dublin with the 148cm Milchem Original, owned by Jim Derwin.
  • The more popular? Sooty, secretary Shannon O’Mahony’s Retriever-cross dog or the free Kingdom County Show catalogues. “All adverts in the programme are €50 for a half-page or €100 for a full-page and that pays for the book then,” explained Shannon, who had the equine results ready for publication by Sunday night. No late entries or entries on the day was another bonus.
  • With two thoroughbreds in their Murroe yard, there’s some friendly rivalry in the Shannon household. “This year, [daughter] Abbie takes over the ride on Champagne Platinum. She’s hoping to qualify again for the Treo Eile final and aim for a few riding horse classes,” said Breid. “When I lost the ride to my daughter, I got this mad idea to go back jumping, so myself and Birchdale have been doing a bit of jumping, even though I hadn’t jumped a track in many, many years. The last time was when I rode 14-hand workers! I got this notion to go do the Stepping Stones league. Birchdale took me around both the show jumping and cross-country track, so then I decided I’d do a show class with him and, as you’ve seen, Saturday was his first day out in the showring. He took it in his stride and I was totally surprised to win the championship, never mind going reserve supreme. I’ll aim for Dublin, but he’s my best friend, so I’ll just let him enjoy it all.”
  • Fellow Limerick compatriot Tony Purcell is from the most famous ‘horse mile’ in Askeaton. “The amount of people and good horses along our road is unreal. The late Michael Moran, Ronnie Kelly [who produced Heidi Robbiani’s Los Angeles Olympic bronze medallist mare Jessica V], myself... the late Willie Forster, another neighbour of ours, used to keep a lot of horses as well. The knowledge those men had and have and that’s why I say interview those people.”
  • Emily Woods and her side saddle class winner - the delightful dun Coco Carel, since sold at Cavan - were the Irish Horse World cover star after Charleville Show last summer. “I’m doing a Masters in Paramedicine with the National Ambulance Service, so the horses are taking a backseat. I’ve got a real life ‘Black Beauty’ (Future Trend x Cruising), so hopefully you will see us in the ladies side saddle next year.” In the meantime, the busy mum has been in demand as a ride judge. “I was asked to do a few local shows and ride the Connies for the green hunter qualifiers, as I’m a shortarse and used to young horses! I’m really enjoying still being part of shows and learning a lot today from Glenn [Knipe, her co-judge]. I got to ride some lovely horses on their first outings, so hopefully I’ve given them a nice, relaxed spin and experience of their first ride judge at the Limerick Harriers and Kingdom County Show. Both were well-run shows with an array of classes to suit everyone, even if it meant tea and a bite of a sandwich between hopping on horses!”
  • The story behind the supreme champion’s name? Bridevalley Frankie is a tribute to the late Frank Lehane, one of Seamus’s brothers. “Frank passed away two years ago when this lad was a foal, so that’s how he got his name,” said Seamus’s son-in-law John Crowley. John’s daughter Kate had both grandfathers - both named Seamus - on babysitting duty last Saturday.
  • Like last week’s story about Mayo teacher Lauren Kerins (who commutes to Clare Island by ferry on schooldays), Rosarie Collins, from Rosscarbery, is another to fit in shows around the classroom. “I’m a primary school teacher in the boys’ school in Dunmanway. Dad rang me in the middle of school one day saying, ‘We need to go look at a horse once you’re finished.’ So naturally, once the boys were gone home, I arranged to meet Dad, told him to bring my wellies and off we went a few miles down the road from school… and that was that!” she said about their find: Shanacrane Lad. He was bought, “along with his brother, who was only a foal at the time, from their breeder, Finbarr Hurley in Shanacrane, Dunmanway. His sire is WRS Sun Rise and his damsire is Luke Skywalker. After that, the mare’s breeding gets a bit lost in translation, so he doesn’t have the full RID on his passport. I only showed him once last year when I brought him back to his hometown in Dunmanway, where he was champion hunter. Thank God, the pressure was on with the boys from school and my colleague watching on! He’s a big horse, he needed time, so we left him out again to grass. Plan is to enjoy him, take him to a few shows locally and hopefully make Dublin for our annual family working holiday, all going to plan.”