LADY Luck was certainly on the side of the connections of the traditional Irish-bred stallion and show jumper Ballycapple Diamond Cruise (ISH) (TIH) who escaped castration as a yearling by the luckiest of circumstances.

The then yearling was lined up to be castrated on a sunny day in the beautiful hills of Wicklow back in the spring of 2010, with the attending veterinary surgeon having his needle poised to sedate him before the procedure. However, when his phone rang with a very anxious farmer at the other end in trouble with a cow calving, the procedure was immediately postponed for a week or two as the vet rushed off to assist.