Susan Finnerty

A NUMBER of Irish judges are among the list for the 2015 Horse of the Year Show, which will be held at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham from October 7th-11th.

Well-known course designer and judge Peter Molloy will be one of the busiest conformation judges during the week with both the intermediate show hunter and hunter pony lead rein finals allocated to the Dubliner. Nigel Cathers, whose family have bred the successful Mountcaulfield show pony line at their Newry base, is one of the show hunter pony judges.

Jane Bradbury, who produced Daphne Tierney’s Bloomfield Excelsior to win the Dublin supreme hunter title last August, will judge the conformation section in the Hack of the Year final. The conformation judge in the Ladies Hunter division is Mairead Ryan, who, with husband Kieran, has sent out a number of Dublin winners from their Cabragh Lodge base. These include Richard McElligott’s 2014 reserve supreme hunter, Huntsman, ridden by P.J. Casey.

A number of interesting choices have also been invited to judge at the pinnacle of the British showing season, including Trakehner Verband inspector Matthias Werner who will co-judge the Cuddy in-hand championship. The Hon Finn Guinness, breeder of the 2004 Badminton CCI**** winner Tamarillo, is one of the Arabian judges, while Henrietta Knight will judge the Show Hunter of the Year finale with Chris Gordon.