Balmoral doubles were the feature of this year’s show, beginning with Dessie Gibson, who won the coveted young horse title with his reigning All-Ireland champion Ducketts Grove (Golden Master).

The Co Down owner also had the champion filly Moonlight Serenade (Porsch). The top four lightweight broodmares were all Ghareeb daughters, with Paula Howard’s Slatequarry Sasha later crowned champion.

Two others – Gibson’s Ballycapple Blackbird and Patrick Wafer’s Parkmore Evita – produced the winning colt (Nazar) and filly (Robin De La Maison) foal winners. Gerard Sweeney completed a back-to-back double in the Irish Draught mare championship, winning this year with the traditional type Hollyhill Classic (Donovan). Daniel Molloy’s Huntingfield Heathcliff and Padraig Bohan’s Near Dock foals won the pure and part-bred classes, while Tom McNamara’s Shanbally Field Of Dreams took the ridden Draught class.

There was a double again for Ballinrobe owner Fiona Grimes in the Connemara broodmare class, this time with An Cheathru Chaol Blathnaid (Robe Earl). Another Robe stallion – Robe Thunder – was the sire of the ridden champion, Sophie Truesdale’s Beech Hall Star.

Coincidentally, both the working hunter pony and reserve – Connell Hill Stud’s Derrygimbla Atlantic Storm (Coral Dun) and Anne Stanley’s Bob Marley (Ashfield Bobby Sparrow) were pure-bred Connemaras. Stephen Byers’ four-year-old heavyweight Foxcatcher (Garrison Royal) won the always competitive Balmoral ridden hunter title, while Alison Crozier’s Dragons Den (VDL Arkansas) and Daphne Tierney’s Bloomfield Executive (Amiro M) won the working and ladies hunter titles respectively.

Continuing the continental sires winning trend in the young event horse championships were Emma Jackson’s Aaroch (Cashell) and Jane Bloomer’s Hollybrook Hotshot (Ars Vivendi) in the four and five-year-old divisions.

Ringroe in Tipperary is best known as Philip Heenan’s address and now making their contribution to the Irish pony breeding scene is Goldengrove Stud.

Owned by sisters Claire Scott and Sarah Rymer, who featured in The Irish Horse last Christmas, they made another Balmoral double by breeding both the champion and reserve show hunter ponies, Mary McDonnell’s Goldengrove Sunrise (Holyoake Czar) and Connell Hill Stud’s Goldengrove Sophistication (Rathnaleen Sinatra).

Red Rosette

“It was great to win the first time we entered Balmoral last year, but I never thought a Donegal sheep farmer would win two years in a row with two different mares.”

– Gerard Sweeney, owner of Irish Draught mare champion Hollyhill Classic.