HAVING been in Ballinasloe earlier in the week, Robert Morrow was humming and hawing about returning there on Saturday, or heading to the new sale in Mullingar, when he was laid low by a bug.

However, there was a silver lining to this cloud as, confined to home, Robert was then able to follow all that was happening at the Horse Of The Year Show, especially the cob classes. And, he began to feel a lot better when Vicky Smith partnered her own Bling Cobsby to win the lightweight class before being called in to claim the reserve sash in the championship.

Shown here as Morrow’s Marco Polo, the 10-year-old Come T gelding, who was bred in Co Down by John Maginn, was the second graduate of Robert’s Bailiesmills yard to win at HOYS this year following the success on Friday of Ballygar Joker in the cob section of the Search For A Star championship. Robert sold the 2009 black gelding to owner/rider Gillian Purgac as a five-year-old.

This year, on the home cob circuit, Robert exhibited the novice, Morrows Country Man, a son of Moore’s Clover who was shown three times, winning twice and placing second on the other occasion. “I’m always on the look-out for that very special cob,” says Robert. “I only have three stables and I like to make sure the horses in them are top-class. I have a very smart small hunter for next year.”