From a total of 10 younger Irish Sport Horse (ISH) stallions brought forward for last week’s Horse Sport Ireland Inspections at Cavan Equestrian Centre, just two got the desired “meets the inspection requirement” decision from the judges. The Irish Draughts had a better time of it as six out of 12 meeting the inspection requirements (one of them pending a future performance test). One thoroughbred was approved on the strength of his good timeform rating. Three older sport horses passed the inspection based on the performance of their progeny in show jumping and eventing and one, very lovely, pony was also approved for the Irish Pony Stud book.

Getting the nod in the Irish Sport Horse Studbook Stage 1 inspections were Charles Hanley’s Captain Pearl by Captain’s Diamond out of a Caruso dam and Stephen Clifford’s Denzel VDL Z by Ard VDL Douglas out of a Cardento dam who traced back to Heartbreaker. That was it for the younger sport horses.

It has to be said that one other four-year-old scored very well on conformation and movement but, being a big horse, found the distances in the cage not to his liking. He should get another chance under saddle. The thoroughbred, approved through his timeform, was Gladys McArdle’s 14-year-old, Primary(USA) by Giant’s Causeway out of the Mr Prospector dam Prospective. The successful pony was the performance star for Teresa McKenna Jacodi Anja’s Admiral, who qualified four times for the RDS and also for Hickstead.

Three older sport horse sires with good progeny performance records just had to go through Linear Profiling in order to gain approval. They were the Holsteiner-bred Colandro by Contendro out of a Calando 1 dam; Emile Hendrix’s Vittorio by the Contender sire Calippa our of Ma Belle by the thoroughbred Martel and Kylemore Stud’s Tyson by Numero Uno out of the Voltaire dam Kickyqueen.

IRISH DRAUGHTS

A good crowd of supporters were on hand to watch 12 Irish Draught stallions bid for Class 1 designation. Happily, they saw a 50% success rate as six had positive results. They included:

• James Murphy’s Barnaview Grosvenors Star by Grosvenor Lad out of the Annaghdown Star mare Cogan’s Dawn;

• Tom Burke’s Castlegar Cool Mist by Castlegar Rebel out of Coolagh Mist by All the Diamonds;

• Glenn Knipe’s Farmhill Highlander by WRS Sun Rich out of Mizen Holly by the Sea Crest sire Coolcronan Wood;

• Donal Goland’s Grandpa’s Rebel by Rebel Mountain out of an Ard Grandpa dam;

• Eddie Murphy’s Inisfree The Iron Cross by the Holy Cross sire Inisfree The Holy Grail out of an Annaghdown Star dam.

Scoring good points for conformation, type and movement was Daniel Molloy’s The Bachelor. However, his status will only be determined later when he undergoes performance assessment. Daniel made his application with the proposed revised rules in mind and under which an owner could opt out of loose jumping in the cage. Though, this revision was not in operation for this inspection and hence The Bachelor will have to complete the performance test before going for Class 1.

A GREAT HORSEWOMAN

At any gathering of equestrians, anywhere in the world you just had to say “Shirley” and just about everyone knew you were talking about Shirley Kernan of Crossmaglen. While she sadly passed away last week this strong Irish lady will always be remembered as a person of great knowledge and experience in the world of the horse. Her eye for a good horse and her courage to take a chance was sure. But, although she touched just about every country in the world of the horse, she never lost contact with the interests of her home base.

No more proof of this is needed than the fact that it was her who determined that the great Condy should stay at home for her brother James to ride. She also kept the wonderful mare Marcella. Going against the trend at the time in the seventies and early eighties, she made sure that Marcella was crossed with world-medallist Galoubet to produce James’ second Aga Khan-winning ride Touchdown.

Forever, there will be only one Shirley for anyone with knowledge of the Irish horse scene. Our condolences go out to Shirley’s mum Imelda, her sister Ellen and brothers Peter, John and James.