Judges lay it on the line at stallion inspections
The judges approved just 12 of the 30 stallions put forward for assessment at the recent inspections in Cavan, reports Siobhán English
ANUMBER of stallions that were not appropriately prepared for the rigorous selection process were left on the sidelines at last week’s inspections in Cavan, leaving some owners disappointed ahead of the 2017 breeding season.
From a total of 30 stallions put forward for assessment, just 12 of those were approved — five Irish Draught Stallions, five Sport Horses, one thoroughbred and one pony.
“Stallion owners really need to know the task in hand and be fully prepared for the assessments on the day,” commented Tiernan Gill.
“They also need to be more knowledgeable on the process, especially the linear profiling end of it which, like everything else, should be fully transparent.”
STALLIONS
The Mayo native was joined on the panel in the sport horse sector by Jack Doyle, Philip Scott, Alain Storme and Chris Ryan.
“I know several owners went home disappointed, but in all honesty one or two stallions came very close to being passed, but just weren’t quite ready on the day.
“Perhaps if they had been under saddle they would have presented themselves better than being loose jumped.
“It is a tough process for sure and we have to be honest, and be critical. We have to ask ourselves, ‘if this stallion gets into the system will he improve it or not?’ ”
At the end of the two days just three Sport Horses were met with full approval, with a further two passing Stage 1. Among those fully approved, and the only one to receive a five-star rating, was the Dutch Warmblood sire Tyson.
Standing at Kylemore Stud for his second season this year, the son of Numero Uno has a small pool of progeny on the ground thus far, but these do include his stallion son Tyson Uno who is jumping at 1.60 metre level in the UK with James Smith.
Only one thoroughbred stallion was presented at the inspections, this being the now fully-approved former Group 3 winner Primary. A son of the Coolmore Stud resident Giant’s Causeway, he has some thoroughbred stock on the ground, having stood at Knockmullen House Stud for nine years, but it hoped he will now appeal to Irish Sport Horse breeders.
Also gaining full approval for Gladys and Eamon McArdle of Drumhowan Stud was Colandro, by Contendro, and Vittorio, a son of Calippo.
Of the 13 Irish Draught Stallions presented, five of those gained Class 1 status. A late decision to make the jumping element compulsory caught some owners unawares, but among those giving hugely impressive performances was Glenn Knipe’s five-yearold Farmhill Highlander. By WRS Sun Rich, the striking grey achieved one of the highest scores on the day, including an 80 for his jumping.
“I always loved the Sun Rich horses for their super temperament and picked this one up as a two-year-old from the stallion’s owner,” commented Glenn Knipe.
“We have a few yearlings by him and he covered about 15 mares last season but we are happy to promote him now that he is fully approved. He has hunted a bit with the Duhallow Foxhounds so that would have stood him in good stead,” he concluded.
George Chapman was among those assessing the Irish Draughts and commented that the standard this year was considerably better than that in previous years. “We saw some lovely horses, however, there were a few others that were just not up to scratch,” he concluded.
Mr Chapman was joined on the Irish Draught panel by Ger O’Sullivan, Michael Duignan, John Corbett and Adrian Hurst.
IT IS A TOUGH PROCESS FOR SURE AND WE HAVE TO BE HONEST