Barnadown a breeding ground for showjumping superstars
Classic proving to be the perfect stepping stone to World Championships, writes Siobhán English
FOR the past six years, the annual Irish Breeders’ Classic at Barnadown in Wexford has seen many superstars pass through its doors, most notably Columbcille Gipsy, winner of the six-year-old World Championship in Belgium in 2017.
For Columbcille Gipsy it proved to be the perfect stepping stone for bigger things as just weeks before her success at the FEI/WBFSH World Breeding Showjumping Championships for Young Horses in Lanaken, she won the lucrative Irish Breeders’ Classic Grand Final when ridden by Ger O’Neill.
Three months later, in December, the Irish-bred daughter of Toulon was sold for €700,000 at the PSI Auction in Germany, making her one of the most expensive Irish Sport Horses ever sold at a public sale.
Bred in Kilkenny by Eamonn Murphy, Columbcille Gipsy is now ridden for Italy by Raffaele Valente and is being produced slowly up the ranks.
O’Neill is something of a specialist when it comes to young horses and in 2016 he secured his first gold medal in Lanaken on board Killossery Kaiden.
Placed 10th in the Irish Breeders’ Classic earlier that month, the then six-year-old had been finely tuned for the World Championships where he caught the attention of many prospective buyers.
In November of 2016, during the Goresbridge Supreme Sale of Showjumpers, the gelding by Lux Z was sold to American rider Adrienne Dixon for €270,000.
In fact, since its inception, the Irish Breeders’ Classic has produced numerous young horses that have gone on to finish in the top five at Lanaken in their age categories.
Another of note is the Captain Clover mare Arraghbeg Clover. In the summer of 2013 she rose to prominence when topping the Irish Sport Horse (ISH) Studbook Series for fiveyear-olds and then placing third in the five-year -old final at the Dublin Horse Show.
World champion
With Greg Broderick in the saddle, they went on to win the Irish Breeders’ Classic for five and six-year-olds before being crowned five-year-old world champion at Lanaken.
It was quite an achievement for the mare which could not be sold as a foal for her breeder Agata Leonard, but which was subsequently snapped up by Russian showjumper Vladimir Beletskiy for €400,000. It is believed that Arraghbeg Clover has now returned to Ireland for breeding.
In 2013, the talented mare Talks Cheap won both the fiveyear-old qualifier and five yearold consolation final at Lanaken under Alexander Butler.
The following autumn as a six-year-old, she headed to Barnadown where she won the Breeders’ Classic under the same rider before being sold to Carl Hanley and Enda Carroll for €50,000 that same week.
She missed out on Lanaken in 2014 but returned to the Belgian venue as a seven-year-old in 2015 and claimed a bronze medal under up-and-coming Irish rider Eoin McMahon.
By Tinaranas Inspector, the mare is now jumping in the US with Grace Long. Irish natives Carl Hanley and Enda Carroll are shrewd horsemen and during the same week that they picked up Talk’s Cheap, they also purchased another Irish-bred, Ard Ginger Pop, for €95,000.
That was just days after the daughter of Luidam had finished seventh in the Breeders’ Classic for O’Neill.
With Swedish rider Angelica Augustsson in the saddle, Ard Ginger Pop went on to claim a silver medal for the Irish Sport Horse Studbook in 2014.
Under Marlon Zanotelli she also placed 11th at Lanaken as a six-year-old and, over the following 12 months, won a host of young horse classes in the European circuit.
In July of 2016 it was announced that she was sold to the US to be ridden by Alison Robitaille (Firestone).
The year 2014 was certainly one for discovering good horses at Barnadown as the Gelvin Clover gelding Super Chilled also featured when sixth in the final.
Now 10, Super Chilled is among the top horses at the yard of US-based Irish rider Kevin Babington with a host of Grand Prix wins to their credit.
Another former ride of Greg Broderick, Alberta Mist topped off a stellar Irish campaign as winner of the Breeders’ Classic as a six-year-old in 2015.
Others to have also passed through the doors of Barnadown Stud on their way to further success include Broderick’s 2016 Olympic ride MHS Going Global and Hallowberry Cruz, now jumping for the Army Equitation School with Captain Geoff Curran.
Meanwhile, a total of 15 Irishbred horses have been selected to represent the Irish Sport Horse Studbook for the FEI/ WBFSH World Breeding Show Jumping Championships for Young Horses which takes place in Lanaken, Belgium from September 12-16.