“I COULD kiss the ground!” exclaimed Seamus Wafer after his uncle Patrick’s Parkmore Evita and Parkmore Tyra won the new eventing section of The Irish Field Breeders Championship.

And to complete the Wafer clean sweep, Linda, Seamus’ sister-in-law, owns the Lancelot mare Hot To Touch and her Quality Time foal, the winners of the show jumping half of this now-divided final.

Judged by Jean-Luc Dufour and Jan Greve, the championship was split into show jumping and eventing sections this year and the first part of the Wafer double led off in the show jumping section curtain-raiser, when Hot To Touch and her colt, shown by Linda’s husband Maurice and son Conor, landed the first part of a remarkable double.

Another Wicklow family - the Rothwells - own Greenhall Catwalk and the Mermus R chestnut was the reserve show jumping champion with her Dignified van’t Zorgvliet colt. In third was Des and Margaret Jeffares’ Ballykelly Notalot with her Diarado colt, Ballykelly Mac Diarado.

In the following eventing section, the home-bred 12-year-old Ghareeb mare Parkmore Evita brought the number of wins in this championship for winning owner Patrick Wafer to three. In the most recent final, held in 2019, Evita won with another Tyson foal and back in 1990, Parkmore Jewel started the Carnew farmer’s winning run.

There were no less than four former winning mares in the top four in this final, with Danielle and Louise Cusack’s Hallowberry Destiny taking the reserve slot this year. Again, she had a foal at foot by the same sire as when the Ramiro B mare won in 2018: Clonaslee Captain Cristo.

Third in the eventing section was the Rothwell’s second contender, Greenhall Push Button, the reserve supreme hunter champion here three years ago and the Financial Reward mare is another with a Dignified van’t Zorgvliet foal.

Taking fourth was John Burchill’s Slatequarry Sasha, the 2016 champion for ex-owner Paula Howard with Haven Hi Hope, the second Tyson filly in the line-up.

“They’ve changed in type from what they were years ago,” said Greve, remarking on the more modern type of Irish mare. Watermill Swatch, bred by the Dutch vet and a former Croker Cup champion here, produced the Laidlaw Cup champion earlier yesterday morning: Daphne Tierney’s Bloomfield Watergate.

“The new format caused great excitement and it was wonderful to see such loyal exhibitors as the Wafers bring off a historic double,” said Leo Powell.

(Full report next week).