THERE has been a great reaction to a documentary that The Irish Field hunting correspondent Noel Mullins and lighting/cameraman Ken O’Mahony have made on that flamboyant horseman Aidan ‘Suntan’ O’Connell, who is known widely around the world of hunting, having hunted extensively on three continents, while also show jumping and racing. This follows previous documentaries that the duo has made on the Meath, Ballymacad, Wicklow, Galway Blazers, Grallagh, South Tyrone and North Galway Hunts, including another filmed on equestrian author, journalist and commentator Michael Slavin at his sporting and antiquarian bookshop on The Hill of Tara in County Meath.

The initial clips are of Aidan’s win as an 18-year-old in the Main Arena of The Dublin Horse Show on his show jumper Suntan, ahead of his idol and international show jumper Seamus Hayes. It was here he acquired the nickname ‘Suntan’, as the spectators did not know who he was.