IT takes a brave team to rearrange a show, however in contrast to last year’s 7pm finish and more disjointed layout, this year’s Irish Draught Horse Breeders’ Association (IDHBA) national show was a great success.
Previously hosted at Mullingar, the association’s annual showcase subsequently moved to Punchestown Racecourse and, with improved roads and new motorways around the country, the Kildare venue is within striking distance for the majority of exhibitors.
Nor was it a long way from Tipperary, the county that produced the first of the day’s champions. This was Edward Corbett’s filly foal class winner, by WRS Sunrise.
“She’s won a few championships already this year, so she’s been lucky enough. Her mother [Growhowdy Elizabeth] is by Ceide Prince and out of a Grey Macha mare, and this is her third foal,” her owner-breeder said.
This well-filled opening class also yielded the reserve champion foal in John and Sinead O’Dwyer’s second-placed Guernascarry Vera, a Ludden Skywalker filly that goes back to Brehan Lass 2, bred by Sarah M Campbell. It’s a line that has produced a number of good prize winners, including Chantal Deon’s prolific champion and dam of approved stallions: Brehan Lass.
Toby and Eddie Corbett with the champion foal at the IDHBA national show with judges Andrew Gardiner and Michael Keane \ Susan Finnerty
Andrew Gardiner and Michael Keane then judged the broodmare classes and Donegal owners won out here. In the lucrative FBD broodmare/foal combination class, judged on a 40 (mare)/60 (foal) basis, Enda Hamill’s home-bred Gweebarra Realta faced more contenders than when she won this year’s Balmoral championship and still won through.
By Millhollow The Real McCoy and out of the Blue Rajah mare Dreamtime Mayfly, her filly foal at foot - Gweebarra Riona - is by The Bachelor. On hand for the presentation was FBD representative Michael Berkery, another to brave the elements last Saturday.
Summer of red ribbons
Valerie Davis’s Castleview Lady Georgina’s road to defending her Dublin title took in Balmoral, where she was reserve champion to Gweebarra Realta, and also the Westmeath-Offaly IDHBA branch show in July.
Back then, she won the supreme title in Moate before repeating her 2024 Irish Draught mare championship at Dublin and now has followed up with another IDHBA title, this time as broodmare champion at Punchestown.
“It definitely was a day of all seasons yesterday!” Valerie said about the day’s mixture of sunshine, navy skies and blustery downpours.
“We had an early morning start as we left here at 5am and it took us four hours to get to Punchestown. I wasn’t at the national show for a few years now, but was ‘forced’ to go by the show chairman [Brian Murphy] after winning in Dublin! It was a great day, very well run.”
With shrinking entries across shows, the personal touch of canvassing for support can pay off.
Kilkenny Double: Fionnuala Lennon and Diarmuid Ryan aboard Tallyho Maguire and Cummermore Lad, with judges Claire Gilna and Eddie Doran \ Susan Finnerty
Castleview Lady Georgina won the four to nine-year-old mare class to book her place in the overall mare championship. By her breeder Kenny Bell’s own stallion Castleview Inisfree Farmer, she is out of Castleview Princess, by Coolcronan Wood.
Pat Murphy’s Puntabeg’s Lass won the following 10-year-old and over mare class and finished up with the reserve champion mare sash for her Mayo owner-breeder.
This 12-year-old grey, with distinctive fleabitten grey markings on her offside withers and hindquarter, is by Tors Gentleman Farmer and out of the Crannagh Hero mare Inisfree Holly Hero.
Castleview Lady Georgina with Seamus O’Neill and wife Valerie Davis, and Denis Duggan, HSI \ Susan Finnerty
Up Tipp
As the championships continued, there were more traces of Tors Gentleman Farmer, as the Irish Draught stallion champion at the 2010 Dublin Horse Show is the maternal grandsire of last Saturday’s youngstock champion: Malahow Grace’s Legacy.
Another filly by the same sire - Moylough Legacy - was PJ and Majella Glynn’s home-bred Crannaghmore Lucky Dip. This yearling had won the youngstock championship at their local IDHBA show in Moate when Malahow Grace’s Legacy had stood youngstock reserve champion that July day.
Meet The Team: Ger Murphy, Bernie Walshe, Michael Murphy, Jennifer Haverty, Anthony Gillespie, Brian Murphy, Joanne Maguire, Alex Moores, Sharon Mannion, Michelle Lucey and Michael Greene were amongst the IDHBA team at Punchestown \ Susan Finnerty
However, the three-year-old filly turned the tables at Punchestown, where the youngstock classes were judged by Annemarie Galligan and David Kirkpatrick. Their eventual champion was shown by the Glynn’s son Lorcan for the filly’s owners, Lisa and John Baker, and proud father PJ was one of the first to congratulate the Punchestown champion’s connections.
It was a similar story to the foal championship as the youngstock reserve also came from the same class and this was Russell and Judith Cowley’s home-bred Cloneyhea Blossom (Cloneyhea Paddy - Cloneyhea Hope, by Coille Mor Hill).
She took the blue ribbon in the three-year-old filly class and then stayed on Malahow Grace’s Legacy heels all the way in the youngstock decider to be awarded the reserve tricolour.
Between the Cowley’s blue-and-yellow lorry parked alongside a ring teeming with Tipperary connections, there was a strong Premier County theme, including the presence of FBD and Horse Sport Ireland (HSI) representatives Michael Berkery and Denis Duggan. And then there was the presentation of the Milestone Cup for the youngstock champion, put up by Matthew O’Meara from Toomevara.
“This was the filly’s biggest win this year and her last show of the season. She was the youngstock champion at this national show last year, so she won back the Milestone Cup and she will have her name on it for two years in a row,” said her delighted Dublin owner, who bought the filly from breeder Jenny Banks (See Breeders’ 10 - page 77) as a birthday present for her husband John.
Malahow Grace’s Legacy - her placename prefix is where a young Arkle was raised - also won the Mare of the Future class, for three and four-year-old fillies, judged by George Chapman and Glenn Knipe. Standing reserve in this prestigious class was Aidan Flanagan’s Ahalative Goldsmith, by Carrickcottage Star and bred by John Mulligan.
Third place went to Monessa Keogh’s Jacks Bonnie, a filly with the same distinctive light grey colour as several of her sire Clogheen Captain Jack’s stock.
Move over Mick
In a different type of ‘next generation’ class, this year’s young handler class winner was Oonagh Bagnall. There were many lovely cups and trophies on display earlier in the secretary’s well-battened-down tent and one had particular significance at the 2025 show.
This was the Ellen Walton Perpetual Trophy, presented to the show by this lady, who passed away earlier this year. Ellen actively encouraged the future generation of Draught breeders and exhibitors and she would have been delighted with Oonagh’s showring journey, from local to national shows and The Irish Field Breeders’ Championship.
She showed John Bracken’s Agherlow mare Lady Hattie, while Paul Bohan, second in this class, relied on Whitefield Gabby, winner of the earlier stinted mare class.
In the overall in-hand championship, the combined judges panel opted for Malahow Grace’s Legacy as their supreme champion choice and then the broodmare champion - Castleview Lady Georgina - as reserve.
“The filly was reserve national supreme champion in 2024, so it was fantastic to get supreme this year,” added a delighted Lisa. “She was x-rayed and broken by Tom Moran, based in Clogherhead, under the HSI schemes. We plan on turning her out to grass now for the winter after getting her out with hounds, my husband John hunts with the Ward Unions.
“A lot of people are asking are we selling her, but down the line, she will be a lovely mare to breed from.”
It was an equally proud occasion for Jenny Banks, who bred the overall champion. “My husband Mick O’Dowd is well known in the GAA world, so this is a first for our family where it’s actually me and not him in the paper!”
Under saddle
A pragmatic move this year was relocating the ridden Draught classes from their former site in the all-weather arena, near the racecourse entrance, to beside the in-hand rings.
While there’s a definite swing towards all-weather arenas for show venues, to see Irish Draughts in full flight down the Punchestown bank in the working hunter classes, or galloping on grass, is a magnificent sight. This is the hardy breed that ploughed land and, for many farmers and households, the Draught was their four-legged ‘tractor’ and transport means in all weathers.
Punchestown hosted the 1991 and 2003 European eventing championships, as well as its popular annual racing festival and proved the perfect shop window for the working hunter classes. The course, built by Michael Doyle, included the famous bank, also utilised during the Kildare Performance Hunter Show.
It’s been a busy summer for Doyle, from Bannow and Rathangan to Millstreet and now the weekly league shows. He and his late mother Phyllis did what many breeders dream of: breeding an Olympic horse in Master Crusoe and the Master Imp-Cruising bay recorded top 10 places at the London Olympics and Badminton with Aoife Clark.
Producers from Wexford man Doyle’s neighbouring county - Kilkenny - dominated the ridden Draught section at Punchestown.
Tallyho Maguire, ridden judges Claire Gilna and Eddie Doran’s first ridden Draught champion of the day, is a perfect example of a versatile Draught.
“This guy has the most amazing temperament, which is synonymous with the breed. He’s aptly-named, as he is my hunter for the last three seasons. I’ve been Master with the Kilkennys for the last five seasons, of which Tallyho Maguire carried me the last three,” said his owner Fionnuala Lennon about the striking chesnut.
“I saw him as a three-year-old in Balmoral and fell in love with him, then bought him the following year from Simon Probin and Brigid Neill, who did a lovely job breaking and lightly hunting him.
“I only started showing him last year, as a six-year-old, because he needed the break in the summer to give him time to grow into himself. He also does side saddle with Hazel Valentine, who hunts with the Kildares and runs the Performance Hunter Show here, which has been a great showcase of pure hunters and performance horses. She qualified him for the RDS ladies’ side saddle and finished fourth.”
By Kiltybane Naldo and out of the Gurraun Golden Eye mare Anamar Girl, her eye-catching chesnut was bred by Patrick Rice.
Updates from Nigel
Standing reserve in the ridden Draught championship was Dermot Molloy’s Cummermore Lad, the latest find by his Kilkenny owner. The four-year-old won the four/five-year-old ridden class with Diarmuid Ryan aboard.
Over in the working hunter ring, where Lindsay Graham and James Donlan were on judging duty, Lady Perdita Blackwood’s oft-crowned Clandeboye won the Punchestown working hunter championship with his regular pilot Louise Lyons.
By Scrapman and out of the Western Light mare Libertias True Blue, the Miriam Burney-bred five-year-old won last year’s Dublin working hunter championship too.
The pair stood champions on Saturday, ahead of Aidan Flanagan’s Ahalative Goldsmith, the winner of the four/five-year-old working hunter class with Sean Looney. By Carrickcottage Star, Flanagan’s four-year-old mare is out of the Knockillaree Glenlara mare Ahalative Rose, bred by John Mulligan.
In the overall ridden supreme showdown, it was Cummermore Lad that reversed the earlier ridden Draught championship result, with Tallyho Maguire as reserve.
“Cummermore Lad was bought as a foal from breeder Larry Carey,” said Dermot’s wife Michaela. “He is by Heigh Ho Dubh and his dam Cummermore Lady is by Crannagh Hero.
“Last week, at Iverk show, he won the four-year-old ridden class and went reserve ridden champion, he won both the novice and open working hunter classes and went champion working hunter, while in July, he won the green working hunter class at Tattersalls July Show,” added Michaela, who reports that their previous big Balmoral and Dublin winner - Two Mile Nigel - has made himself at home in his new Dutch residence, where he went after last month’s Dublin Horse Show.
“Nigel has settled well in his lovely home and we’re getting his photos! We’ll keep Cummermore Lad, or ‘Goofy’, for next year and we hope we will get him to Dublin next year.”
“It was amazing to win at the National Draught Show, becoming ridden champion and then went on to be reserve supreme,” Fionnuala Lennon added, summing up her big day at Punchestown.
Punchestown snippets
THE Westmeath-Offaly branch show proved a preview of the meticulous organisation that went into Saturday’s show, with several of the team on duty again. An excellent catalogue also listed former National Show supreme champions since 2008, which was an added bonus.
“I was really delighted with how everything ran yesterday,” the national show chairman and chief steward Brian Murphy commented afterwards.
“I think moving the show location within Punchestown Racecourse went down very well and the way it was laid out suited everyone, as they all had a good view of all the rings this year.
“Classes were well supported. The youngstock section could do with more numbers, but I think that is the case across the board all year,” was his frank assessment of their entries.
“I’m only a very small cog in a big wheel and have an amazing board of directors that have a wealth of experience across the horse industry. I think the mix of the board works well with the senior and younger members complementing each other.
“And it goes without saying that no show can go ahead without sponsors and we are so lucky and grateful to have such a group of loyal sponsors that have supported the show.”
The issue of results has cropped up at recent shows with readers enquiring about the lack of showing results, particularly from agricultural shows, in the Irish Horse World results section.
While every set of showing results with the required breeding details received this summer has appeared in print, there is no doubt that preparing a set of results is another thankless task for tired secretaries post-show day.
All the more reason to say well done to Sharon Mannion. Not only did she spearhead a cheerful, energetic team in the secretary’s tent and across showrings last Saturday, she completed online modules for her day job and referee studies syllabus - the Westmeath lady is an avid sports fan - and attended a wedding fair in Athlone, in advance of hers and Paddy Drennan’s ‘big day’ in 2027.
And, in the midst of this busy weekend, emailed a full set of results, complete with breeding details, by early afternoon on Sunday.
Flawless organisation and dedication.