To the joy of the traditional breeders present, thoroughbreds were the stars of the fifth HSI Stallion Inspections at Cavan Equestrian Centre last week. Three came forward and all three had positive results. Meanwhile, both the sport horses and the Irish draughts struggled to meet the required standards. Just three out of 10 sport horses made it through. The Irish Draughts did themselves no favours at all as only two of their 11 candidates got the nod.

“The bar has been raised in order to keep up the standard and there is no place here to hide,” noted Irish Draught assessor Michael Kirwin when it was all over.

Meeting the standards for conformation, movement, and athleticism in the thoroughbred section were John Varley’s Elusive Emir by Elusive Quality (USA) out of an Unbridled dam; Kieran O’Gorman’s Munther by Lawman (FR) out of a Rainbow Quest mare and Peadar Murphy’s Wounderwall by Neshad (USA) out of Werra (GER) by Readily (ARG). All three scored above the required 70 point average in the three tests.

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Scoring in the eighties, Marion Hughes’ Capri Van Oversis Z by Canturo (HOLST) out of Aroma by the Rantzau Selle Francaise stallion Fier de Lui stood out among the sport horse contingent and easily progressed through stage one.

Going through on 70 scores was Gabriel Slattery’s son of Captain Clover Dermish Cruise. This one bred by Gerard Murphy is out of a Cruising mare and through his second dam has Water Serpent in his background as well. The attractive grey Numero Cruise was the third sport horse through. He is owned and bred by John Carey and combines the best of Irish and continental bloodlines. He is out of the world’s fifth ranked sire Numero Uno, who traces back to Libero H, Landgraf and Lord. His dam is MS Cruise by Cruising and his grand dam was by Clover Hill. He too scored in the seventies.

The first of two Irish draughts making the grade was Tom Burke’s Castlegar Fin Grove by the Uibh Fhaili sire Fintan Himself and out of the Grosvenor Lad dam Feeragh Lass. Joining him was Hillhollow Real MacCoy that was bred by Moira McKenna and is now owned by Roy Butler. He is by Annaghdown Star and out of the good Blue Henry mare Roma Blue Wind.

This is the outcome as seen on the day and it is subject to confirmation following final veterinary results. Even after five outings, this new process is still in its infancy and a great deal of education is needed in order to have it gain traction with the main stream of Irish sport horse breeding. One can only hope that the strategic plan now being worked on will help in this regard. It is the only way forward but it is a hard road for most to travel. We will have more on this when we publish our breeding supplement in next week’s issue. CL