Munster Express Online

The Dublin Horse Show is only a few short weeks away now and it now looks as though Co Waterford will be taking a share of the prestige ribbons on offer there. Over the years the Ballsbridge Show has been a happy hunting ground for Waterford challengers and the omens are that our exhibitors will not come home empty handed.

Back in 2006 Waterford had its greatest year in the show ring, when Rosemary Connors showed Woodfield Valier to win the four major trophies at the show. The mare won the Owen Ryan Cup, the Laidlaw Cup, the Anthony Maude Cup and the supreme Pembroke Cup.

That was an unprecedented feat in showing, and to cap it Woodfield Valier won the Champion Ridden mare title as well. That was an accolade that must have been very sweet as back in 1976 Mick Connors had won that championship with Temare a chestnut mare by Flemingstown. A year ago Rosemary Connors won the leading rider in the showing classes, but she will have to work a bit to keep up that impetus this year. However the recent Cork Summer Show must have given the Woodstown stables a bit of a lift as the lightweight hunter class there was won by Rosemary on Woodfield Indo.

In winning she foiled a clean sweep of the showing classes for the modern day king of the showing classes, Richard Iggulden who has a team of formidable strength in his north of Ireland yard. He succeeds his father Douggie Iggulden who showed so many of the horses owned by Perdy Blackwood; and he has certainly inherited the winning formula.

At Cork he won the four year old class the Middleweight class and the Heavyweight class, and in the lightweight he took second with Double Take beaten for a clean sweep by the Woodstown stables competitor. His runner in the Lightweight division was Double Take a smart looker by Ricarfo Z, the sire of many top flight jumpers.

Aside from the showing classes we have a reasonably strong hand in the jumping events at the Horse Show. Francis Connors has not had as much luck in these classes over the years as we might have expected, but the luck could turn this year. Tholm Keane has had a fair record with the horses owned by Robert Tynan and has show enough to be optimistic about his chance on the big stage.

Paddy O’Donnell with Tom Power’s mare Harristown Princess has shown enough on the Grand Prix circuit with a win and some notable placings to be considered as a potential winner in either the main arena or the Simmonscourt rings. And as well we may count on the Beecher’s to provide a worthwhile challenge for West Waterford in all the categories.

Last year the RDS introduced a new competition that was aimed at potential event horses rather than show jumpers and that was not as technical as the Future Event Horse class the brainchild of Ronnie MacMahon. The new class was for a more workmanlike animal and had an immediate appeal for breeders. Its second outing this year is eagerly awaited and judging by the interest in the qualifying rounds it looks an assured winner.