DERRY Rothwell’s Move To Strike filly continued her good recent form with the overall foal title in the ISA All Ireland traditional foal finals, part of Horse Sport Ireland’s showing series, held at Mountbellew.

Just the previous Sunday, the well-grown chesnut was the foal champion in the Traditional Irish Horse Association (TIHA) section at Limerick Show.

Her dam is the Tinahely family’s well-known Greenhall Wishing Well, the Dublin hunter mare champion and reserve supreme champion hunter six years ago. By Crosstown Dancer, her Cruising dam Greenhall Miss Cruise is a daughter of the prolific champion Greenhall Cailin Deas, by Mister Lord.

Rothwell’s winner had five other rivals in the filly foal final with the reserve championship going to Ian Murphy’s filly by the Swinford family’s own Singing N’ Dancing. Interestingly, Move To Strike and Singing N’Dancing were both bred by Jim Bolger.

Ian enjoyed a good Limerick too, winning the TIHA’s Limerick Lady final with Barnaview Dancing Queen, another by their own thoroughbred stallion. The dam of his All Ireland filly reserve is the Clonakilty Hero mare Ava’s Delight.

Third was Niamh Varley and Darragh Glynn’s finalist by Centennial out of the Aughrim Knight mare Mary’s Lady, who produced the winning filly here four years ago. That half-sister was by Elusive Emir.

The opening final, again judged by Jane Darragh and Valerie Glass, was for traditionally bred colts and here seven finalists lined out.

Mary Dooner scored a double here with her pair of finalists, with the red rosette going to a Shadow Gate colt out of the Rockrimmon Silver Diamond mare, Golden Olive. As reported then, the same son of the Italian Derby winner White Muzzle had supplied Mary’s father Michael with his first win in the All Ireland Colt foal final last month at Clarecastle.

For good measure, Mary then took second place with her other foal by Cougar out of the Huntingfield Rebel mare Pave The Way. Third place went to Joe Hill’s entry by the Master Imp-Clover Hill stallion Imperial Hights with the dam Mile Hill going back to Sky Boy and Skylark.

In the overall head-to-head supreme between the two champions, the judges opted for Rothwell’s filly with Mary Dooner’s Shadow Gate colt as reserve.

“The Rothwell’s filly is beautiful, she’s got mummy’s temperament and it’s nice to see a girl beating the boys! The colts were very nice as well, there was a couple with lumps and bumps on them which we couldn’t put up [the line] but they were very nice,” Jane Darragh commented afterwards.