OUR Foxglove, bred by The Irish Field Horse Sense editor Helen Sharp, won the six-year-old class at Chard last week with French eventer Gaspard Maksud.

A delighted Sharp told Pony Tales that ‘Frankie’, who is by Malito de Reve, has always been ahead of the game.

“I got a call from my husband to say her mother, Mullentine Sure Jet (Dollar de la Pierre x Cruising), a gift horse kindly given to me when I started out by Heather Allen of Mullentine Farm, was beginning to foal in the field in the early evening of a sunny May,” she said.

“I broke the sound barrier racing from work to foal her, but as I sped down the lane, I could see a little chestnut foal sitting up, bright as a button, glistening in the field.

“Frankie has always been a bit special, had brains to burn, which made her stand out from any other foal I’ve had. I just kind of knew she was different.

“Production is everything in my opinion, and Frankie was broken-in by one of the best horsemen I know, David Pickens in Co Monaghan. I then sent her to Olive Clarke and David Scally at Four Seasons stables in Co Galway, who gave her the very best start.

“Then I got lucky, I struck up a friendship with British horse owner Laura Smith, who, along with her mum Jane Young, own the 2024 Olympic hopeful for France, Zaragoza II (Jane also bred the mare, out of an Irish dam Saracens Pride to boot!).

“Zaragoza is ridden by French five-star eventer Gaspard Maksud and once he saw Cumano in the mix of Frankie’s pedigree and saw her videos, was fully on board for Laura to buy her for him to ride. So off she went to Sussex: the team there have produced her really slowly and really smartly and it’s now paying dividends.

“I’m not going to lie, there were a few tears when she won the six-year-old International at Chard, it’s a bit clichéd to say maybe, but it genuinely felt like all the late nights, worry and money we invest into these incredible animals as small breeders was worth it. I was incredibly proud and incredibly grateful to her team.

“Frankie’s big brother out of the same mare has just been in the ribbons in California too, and her little sister is also off to America, so I couldn’t be happier with the offspring my gift horse has given me. As for their dam Jet and I, we prefer the quiet life in Fermanagh!”