Caitriona Murphy

SOME high profile foals have made their entrance onto the world’s show jumping stage in recent weeks, including foals by Cruising’s clones Cruising Arish and Cruising Encore, as well as foals out of the Irish-bred Ard Ginger Pop.

Mary McCann of Hartwell Stud is busy keeping track of over a dozen foals due to hit the ground this year by her two Cruising clones

One of the first foals was a black colt by Cruising Encore out of a homebred mare by Bonnie Prince and he was quickly followed by a chesnut filly by Cruising Arish, whose dam is a Puissance x Clover Hill mare owned by Sharon O’Brien in Co Kilkenny.

Also on the point of foaling is Kilnamac Sally, the dam of Joseph Murphy’s four-star event horse Electric Cruise and owned by James J. Ryan.

Cruising Arish and Cruising Encore, known at home as Rooster and Booster, are continuing their education alongside their stud duties. The pair have been backed and are being ridden and jumped behind closed doors at Hartwell Stud.

Meanwhile, Ard Ginger Pop’s two embryo transfer foals, one by Diamant De Semilly and one by Cornet Obolensky, were born to surrogate dams in the past fortnight.

The Diamant De Semilly foal is a bay colt owned by Ashford Farm’s Enda Carroll, who gave a 50% share to her rider Angelica Augustsson and husband Marlon Módolo Zanotelli as a wedding gift.

The Cornet Obolensky foal is a bay filly which was famously sold while still in utero.

The embryo was sold at the Goresbridge Supreme Sale of Showjumpers for €50,000 to Barry O’Connor, who was acting on behalf of Swiss show jumper Beat Mändli.

Ard Ginger Pop was a record-setter herself in 2014 when she sold for €95,000 to Carl Hanley and Enda Carroll, who later bought Hanley’s share from him.

The Lanaken silver medal-winning mare is herself by Luidam (KWPN) out of Derrylea Greylady (ISH), by Cruising (ISH) and was bred by Heather Dean-Wright in Co Meath.

Carroll told The Irish Field this week that he intends to take three more embryo transfer foals from the chesnut mare this year.

“We have already taken one embryo from her of the three. She returns to Diamant De Semilly and Cornet Obolensky again and for the third, we will use Vagabond De La Pomme, the mount of Penelope Leprevost,” said Carroll.

“Her breeding work goes well, she can easily return to jumping afterwards as she has shown.

“Her main goal for this year is to take embryos but if her breeding goes well and the timing is right, I would love for her to be back in time for Lanaken this year.”