ROBERT Storey and Siobhán English were over the moon to see the safe arrival of a colt foal out of their Orbis mare Ballinabarney Mandolin last weekend. By John Varley’s hugely popular thoroughbred stallion Centennial, he was due on June 5th and arrived two weeks late, just after midnight on Sunday last. It was the perfect Father’s Day present for Robert who had been on tenterhooks waiting for the special arrival.

Ballinabarney Mandolin is from a wonderful family and her dam Ballinabarney Mandy (Minstrel Bouncer/Political Merger) had spent several years with Robert at Decoy Farm outside Dunlavin up to 2015 when she sadly died of colic at the age of 18. She had already retired from breeding, but not before she had produced no fewer than 13 foals. These include Loughmogue Miracle Star, reserve working hunter champion at the RDS in 2017, and Ballinabarney Highlight, who is dam to several three-star eventers including Cooley Mr Murphy and Monbeg Ebony.

“She had bred all fillies – 10 in all – before Robert got her and after that bred three colts. So Robert had no females to keep the line going,” Siobhán said. “We knew where the colts went and some of the fillies too, but Robert was always sorry he never tracked one down to retain some the family.”

It was in November 2020 when Siobhán was browsing Facebook that she came across a post from five years previous when someone was enquiring to know where Ballinabarney Mandolin had ended up. She had gone through the sales ring in Goresbridge many years earlier and was presumed to have been sold abroad. “It was just pure luck one night I spotted an old post from 2015. I had no idea how I found it to be honest. Within 20 minutes I had tracked down her owner, Helen Smith in Wales,” Siobhán added. “I sent her a message and we got chatting. She was just as delighted as we were that we had found one of Mandy’s long-lost daughters. Robert was away that evening and when I showed him some photos he recognised her straight away as one of Mandy’s offspring.”

Within the space of a few hours, Siobhán and Robert had negotiated a deal to buy the mare and bring her back to Ireland. “It took little persuading as Helen was thrilled to see her come back to her roots for breeding.

“Years ago we had so many traditionally bred mares and no-one wanted them, so Maddy ended up as a riding horse in the UK. She later bred two foals when she was owned by Helen. Although she’s 16 now she is in fine fettle and we are hoping she can produce another one or two foals for us. It’s so important to keep these traditional lines and this mare is rather special to us now,” Siobhán concluded.