THE Laois branch of the Irish Draught Horse Breeders Association hosted their one-day event recently at Stradbally Hall where there was a strong line-up of 19 Irish Draughts entered in the first class of the day. The morning mist burnt off to glorious sunshine, which was very welcome after the previous week’s weather, indeed the going was near to perfect.

Dermot Molloy’s Heigh Ho Hero (by Heigh Ho Dubh, dam Moonlight Pearl), a beautiful five-year-old gelding, bred by Mary Jane Kearney, led the field after the dressage test. Close behind him was the four-year-old mare Ballyglass Morning Spirit (Cloneyhea Spellbound out of Ballyglass Dolly), bred by Mary Cogan, and ridden by Marie Helene Finegan. Both slipped down in the rankings after the show jumping but Ballyglass Morning Spirit still took home the prize for the highest placed four-year-old, a trophy turned from the wood of a beech tree from the Stradbally estate.