Bannow & Rathangan show celebrated its 67th anniversary and hosted a quality All Ireland three-year-old final. In fact, the champion and reserve foals in the 2013 The Irish Field Breeders Championship repeated their placings in this Galway Crystal/Belleek China-sponsored final, which is also part of Horse Sport Ireland’s national showing series.

Experienced All Ireland judge Ruth Browne and racehorse trainer Edward O’Grady had the task of selecting this year’s champion from a quality field and having assessed the 17 contenders in numerical order, then brought forward Rosemary Connors’ Woodfield Extra (Financial Reward) and Pat and Jim O’Mahony’s Brooklodge Merryman (Mermus R) for a final look.

They opted for Connors’ home-bred Woodfield Extra, who is out of the Dublin multi-champion mare and 2013 Breeders Championship winner, Woodfield Valier (Lucky Valier). Standing reserve was Pat and Jim O’Mahony’s Brooklodge Merryman (Mermus R), bought by the Cork father and son team from his breeder Derry Rothwell, after they spotted him as a foal in the Breeders Championship.

Ballina's Dermot Gordon’s Queen B (Munther) was shown by his father Anthony and claimed the highest-placed filly prize in third place. Bred by Kieran Fahey, she won the All Ireland two-year-old final in Kildysart last August.

Fourth place went to the big-moving Lucky Jack (Grafenstolz), a big winner this summer for the Twomey family. Ronnie Bailey’s fifth-placed Nazar gelding was another, like Connors champion, to qualify at Adamstown Show while Trevor Horgan’s home-bred Kings Master three-year-old was the second filly in the top six.

John Roche’s two-year-old Assagart Lord Dancer (Castleforbes Lord Lancer) won the young horse championship. As a foal, he was part of the winning combination, together with his dam Assagart My Only Hope (Flagmount King) in the 2014 final at Dublin and in reserve last Thursday was his stable companion Assagart Kingdom (Coroner) from the three-year-old gelding class.

Another of Roche’s broodmare team, Assagart Saviour (Flagmount King), won the Bannow broodmare title while his Coroner filly was the reserve champion foal to Matt Cosgrove’s colt foal by the Irish Draught sire Lansdown.

GOOD CUSTOMERS

Ger and Sadie Murphy have been good customers of Tuam breeder John Burke and one of their buys, the five-year-old middleweight hunter Frankie (Captain Clover) won the ridden horse title with Emily Corrigan’s Irish Draught winner Ardattin Freya (Castle Crest) as reserve.

Two ponies to add a Bannow championship double to their CVs were Siani Blanchfield’s Shannon Bay Star, winner of both the show hunter and working hunter titles and Barossa Stud’s Mynach Arion-sired Barossa Heiress, the youngstock and in-hand champion.

Other Bannow champions included Patrice Byrne’s Chark Night Mist (intermediate) and Zoe Walsh who owned the donkey champion.