NEWS COMMENT

Michael Slavin

Over the last four decades, the number of thoroughbred stallions available to sport horse breeders has decreased at a critical rate, putting the future of the traditional Irish horse at risk. One is reminded of a book compiled by John A O’Brien back in the 1950s called The Vanishing Irish, in which it was projected that the shortage of Ireland’s males who were willing to marry would bring about the disappearance of our race. Well that has not happened but the future of the traditional Irish horse may not be as secure. Here are some of the figures:

  • • Forty years ago, there were 340 thoroughbred stallions available to Irish breeders. Included among them were Chou Chin Chow, Bahrain, Artic Que, Regular Guy, Rhett Butler and many more who produced international jumpers.
  • • The number of thoroughbred sires has slumped by more than two-thirds to somewhere in the region of just 70.
  • • This has had a profound impact on the numbers of foals by thoroughbreds. In the late 1970s, the number of foals by thoroughbred sires was at 63%. That figure has now dropped to a mere 13%.
  • As an example of the impact this can have, just one of the 15 Irish-breds selected for this year’s World Young Horse Show Jumping Championships in Lanaken can be designated ISH TIH or traditional Irish. And at this year’s Breeders Championship at the RDS, which in many ways is a bellwether of current trends, only four of the 18 qualified foals were by thoroughbreds. As to their dams, only five were daughters of thoroughbreds, with three by the now-deceased good sire Ghareeb.

    MAKING SENSE OF IT ALL

    In a bid to make sense of it all, I spoke with Tim Carey of Tullaghansleek Stud near Kilbeggan. Tim is the sixth generation of his family on their 200-acre farm. His father and grandfather before him stood good strong thoroughbreds for coverings with non-thoroughbred mares. Tim continues that practice but says: “Perhaps it is just our tradition or that I do not know any better but, to be frank, it is just not profitable.”

    He also outlines how difficult it now is to get the kind of thoroughbred that is required: “The thoroughbred world is now concentrated almost entirely on speed so that a good strong National Hunt type is very hard to find. On top of that, if one is found he will cost over the €100,000 mark, since you are up against very deep pockets from the Middle East when you try to buy this type of horse.”

    Further complicating matters, average covering fees for National Hunt mares can be as high as €2,000, while those for the non-thoroughbred mare averages around €450. It is just not economical for a stallion owner to concentrate on this market. Once a sire begins to show good potential for progeny in National Hunt or point-to-points, his fee goes up and in many cases he ends up being restricted to those sectors. A good sire like Tullaghansleek’s Golden Lariat, who already has a Dublin lightweight champion to his name, is one of those who will be “restricted” this season.

    So, is there any answer to this dilemma? In John A O’Brien’s book, it was facetiously suggested that one of the causes of Ireland’s declining population in the 50s was due to the fact that if you placed an Irish man in a room with a lady and a bottle of Guinness, he would choose the bottle every time. That joking remark could be interpolated to say, if a current Irish breeder is faced with a choice between the thoroughbred and the foreign-bred, there is a fair chance they will choose the latter.

    The prediction in O’Brien’s book did not come true. Let’s hope that either through some sort of subsidisation or placement of good thoroughbred sires in a programme like that initiated by Dick Jennings in the 70s, a way will be found to make them more available to our Irish Sport Horse mares.