ALL roads led to Wexford in the Coote Cup broodmare championship at the RDS, won by Craanford owner Brendan Tobin’s Island Princess. Her win stalled the Roche family’s bid for a 10th Coote Cup title, although John Roche’s Assagart Hopeful, the Dublin champion broodmare in 2025, stood reserve.

Sponsored this year by The Irish Field, these classes were the sole opportunity for broodmare and foal exhibitors to enter for Dublin, following the cancellation of the Breeders’ Championship. Its absence was widely commented on by exhibitors and spectators.

Three broodmare classes and three foal classes filled Saturday morning’s Ring 1 schedule. The first win went to Roche’s reigning champion Assagart Hopeful in the opening class of seven entries. The second-placed entrant in each of the three broodmare classes also earns a place in the championship and this was Billy Moran’s pure-bred Draught, Corkeeran Willow (Darragh Moylough Vision) in this middle/heavyweight division. While Irish Draught mares are eligible for these classes, few exhibitors double up on their Dublin entries by entering again for Saturday.

Moran, who bred Tiger Attack - the sire of this year’s Dublin young horse champion Timpany Tiger Two - did with this 12-year-old, who recorded a Royal Highland supreme treble back in June.

Numbers (16) were better in the following lightweight broodmare class, where Tobin’s six-year-old threw down her championship challenge after her win. Thoroughbreds too are eligible for Dublin’s broodmare section and Aileen Dwyer’s Vanity Flare (Robin des Pres) repeated her 2025 blue ribbon result again this year to claim her place.

The third and final opportunity for the Coote Cup championship is in the stinted mare class, which followed the interim foal classes. Here, Des Jeffares made it another Wexford exhibitor win with his and wife Margaret’s Ballykelly Countess (Gortfree Hero), their 2019 All-Ireland traditional foal champion at Mountbellew. Very much a home-bred, the seven-year-old is the fourth generation of her damline to win at Dublin, starting with her Coote Cup champion great-granddam Corrib Countess.

Second in this class was Ruth Keane’s Oilily (Entertainer), maintaining her good Dublin record.

Call Me Number One double

In the foal classes, Paula Howard’s memorable Dublin week continued when Tullabeg Hello’s Cascari son won the colt foal class. He and his Hiello dam, herself a former Balmoral young horse champion, had won the new combination class at Athlone this summer.

David Furlong’s Thistletown Number Five (Call Me Number One), the reserve champion in the Banner Breeders’ Championship in Clarecastle with his dam Bonnie, took the blue ribbon.

Call Me Number One also produced the filly foal winner in John Roche’s Assagart Aurora, out of Assagart Hopeful. Following the Foulksmill pair in the line-up was Billy Moran’s pure-bred Draught foal by Bowland Royal Silver.

Desmond Gibson’s Drumbo Bluebell delivered again for her Dromara owner, when her Rosier filly Spa Well won the third class, this time for foals with a thoroughbred parent. Second here was Aileen Dwyer’s Livello colt out of her consistent prize-winning mare Vanity Flare, the second year in a row she produced the blue ribbon winner in this class.

The ringside atmosphere picked up for the Coote Cup decider between the six mares, when the results were called out in reverse order.

Judges Jane Holderness-Roddam and David Dixon opted for Assagart Hopeful as their reserve and then, excited whoops rang out from Brendan Tobin and Patrick McCarthy as Island Queen’s number was announced as the champion.

Champion Hunter Broodmare Brendan Tobin’s Island Princess pictured during the Gallagher Dublin Horse Show Parade of Champions \ Lorraine O’Sullivan

Wildest dreams

“I’m still in shock from the weekend,” Brendan, who has often shown mares and foals with John Roche, told The Irish Field this week. “Never in my wildest dreams did I think that I would win with my own mare in Dublin. My granddad, Jimmy Goland, introduced me to ponies many years ago and gave me the love of horses. I knew with this mare that she was special and the foal has all the makings of being in the same league. I genuinely couldn’t do all this without the help of the three boys at home. Horses are my pastime and, without Thomas, Brendan and Luke, it wouldn’t be possible.

“A huge amount of thanks to Paddy McCarthy for showing the mare on the day. Thomas usually shows with me, but he had also qualified for the All-Ireland fleadh, which unfortunately clashes with the Dublin Horse Show.”

His first Dublin champion is by Lagans OBOS Quality and is out of the Aldatus Z mare AFS Light Waves. Now a six-year-old, she was bred by fellow Wexford man Michael Kavanagh, no stranger to breeding champions.

“I bought her off Michael as a yearling and she won the All-Ireland two-year-old filly final in Kildysart. She was second in the All-Ireland Galway Crystal final at Bannow and Rathangan as a three-year-old, being the highest-placed filly. Rosemary Connors rode her as a four-year-old, and then I decided to put her in foal.”

Island Princess recently won the South East Clare broodmare championship at Bridgetown. Her first foal - a Hiello filly - was fourth in her class.

Roche’s home-bred reserve broodmare champion is by Castleforbes Lord Lancer, previously competed by Irish show jumping manager Jessica Kürten.

Assagart My Only Hope, Hopeful’s Big Sink Hope dam, is another former All-Ireland champion at Kildysart for her previous owner, Dermot O’Sullivan.

She went on to be the winning mare twice in The Irish Field Breeders’ Championship (2014, 2017) and last Saturday’s Coote Cup reserve champion is a full-sister to the 2017 Laidlaw Cup champion: Assagart Lord Lancer.

Sign of the times

Both judges were satisfied with the overall standard of mares and foals.

“Judging broodmares in Dublin is a dream come true for me, so I’m like a kid in a sweetshop! There are some lovely mares in Ireland, as always, which is great to see,” remarked Dixon, who had judged young horses in Ring 1 on his previous Dublin visits. His co-judge - Burghley and two-time Badminton winner Jane Holderness-Roddam - had also judged the Coote Cup classes.

“I did the Connemaras and sport horse competitions here too. We’ve been spoiled with what we’ve had in front of us today and we’ve thoroughly seen eye to eye on everything. We got on very well, so I’m very lucky because David is very highly experienced.

“You can’t beat a bit of Irish, but I always like plenty of thoroughbred in the breeding as well,” added the Mexico Olympics gold medal team rider.

When asked about the UK market for show youngstock, Dixon replied: “The breeder is just not out there any more, sadly, which is just a sign of the times. Nothing lasts forever, does it?

“But, if you look hard enough, there are still horses to be found and it’s refreshing to be able to actually see them here and to see the older farmer-breeders still bringing their mares and their youngstock as well to Dublin.”