THE Eileen Parkhill salver, presented to the connections of the Irish Draught champion mare on Thursday evening, is one to treasure and the late breed enthusiast would have been pleased to learn that support for the mare classes at Dublin continues to grow.

So much so that this year’s senior mare class with 29 entries will be randomly split into two sections to safely accommodate the class of 2017. Who precisely those 29 and other Irish Draught entries are is still an unknown, however both last year’s champion and reserve are amongst them.