REGULAR Dublin Horse Show exhibitors, Margaret and Des Jeffares, made the well-worn journey up from Co Wexford to Ballsbridge last Saturday but the trip was in total contrast to other years as they attended as owners of a show jumper with no hands-on involvement.

Their interest centred on the home-bred Ballykelly Mistral de Semilly who, on 71.50 points, finished 15th of 24 under Ciaran Moran in the Mo Chroi four-year-old championship won by the Meabh Bolger-owned and -ridden MBF Celtic Claddagh (83.25).

On a previous visit to the Dublin 4 showgrounds, as a foal in 2017, Ballykelly Mistral de Semilly and his dam, Ballykelly Notalot, had finished fourth in The Irish Field Breeders’ Championship.

“He jumped a super clear round, showed massive future potential but, on the day, was just not what the judges were looking for in this class,” said Margaret of their bay Diamant de Semilly gelding whose much beribboned Lancelot-sired dam was supreme champion young horse at Dublin in 2015 and, the following spring, was champion four-year-old in the Stepping Stones league.

“Ciaran Moran and his wife Alyson of MK Sporthorses here in Wexford have produced him since he was a three-year-old and have done a great job with him. He was never rushed or overdone. He’s only a baby and it’s so important for myself and Des, as his breeders, that we strategically develop the horse mentally and physically so he goes on to have a highly successful show jumping career. We’re confident of exciting times ahead for this boy. He’s very much like his dam in presence and outlook, gives everything 100% and doesn’t want to knock a pole.

“This is all very exciting for us. When we bought Ballykelly Notalot we were told that she was a real show jumping type mare, with the mind for it, so this is the start of our show jumping family. The dam didn’t have a foal in 2018, we have retained her two-year-old OBOS Quality gelding (Ballykelly Like This) but sold her 2020 OBOS Quality colt to an eventing yard in England. Sadly, the filly foal she had this year by Diarado (a son of Diamant de Semilly) broke her leg in the field at six weeks.

“Ballykelly Mistral is on the market but, if he is not sold, we will produce him on ourselves. It was strange not having a hands-on involvement with the horse at Dublin and added pressure too as, if you are just showing them yourself you just have to worry for you and your horse, when you have a rider/producer on board, you have to worry about them as well.”

Hopefully Ballykelly Mistral will graduate up through the grades as a successful show jumper. He would not just advertise Ballykelly Sport Horses but also Dublin itself and its judging system which saw Ballykelly Notalot parade in the Main Arena in 2015 with then owner, Rebecca Monahan, practically attired in sashes and ribbons, six years before he himself competed on the same turf.