ALL THE RESULTS FROM THE BANNOW & RATHANGAN SHOW

THE feature showing event at this year’s 68th annual Bannow & Rathangan Show in Killag was the All Ireland three-year-old final, sponsored once again by Galway Crystal & Belleek China and Horse Sport Ireland.

25 of the country’s top three-year-olds, including previous Balmoral, Dublin and All Ireland champions, were in the lineup and it was certainly regarded as one of the highest standards in years by the large crowd gathered around the ringside.

This year’s champion is Daphne Tierney’s Bloomfield Waterside, a Watermill Swatch grey gelding that was bred in Kilmuckridge by M. J Kavanagh.

He was on hand to receive the special Galway Crystal breeders prize after the horse, already champion at Thomastown and Adamstown, on his two other outings this summer, was declared champion as the results were announced in reverse order.

The winner will go to Dublin Horse Show next and his owner plans to keep the traditional-bred for her stable jockey Jane Bradbury to produce next year.

UK judges Ali Tait and Matthew Ainsworth were also pleased with the quality of this year’s finalists.

‘Just look around at the standard, you couldn’t but be impressed,’ commented Ainsworth, who, like his co-judge lives in Ledbury hunting country.

Their followers include Jonty Evans and National Hunt jockeys AP McCoy, Davy Russell and Paul Carberry.

Tiernan Gill travelled from Ballina with two horses and his journey paid off when he was placed second and fourth with the pair. His reserve champion was the Porsch gelding Burrough Hill Lad and he also took fourth prize with this highest-placed filly Flogas Liqueur, by Barnaby Flight.

Showing the calibre of the Bannow final, both Gill’s filly and the third-placed horse, Ballykelly Flashdance, owned by Margaret Jeffares from Drinagh were the All Ireland two-year-old champions Kildysart and Tinahely last year.

The best-turned-out horse was owned by Timothy Holland from Bandon.

More Wexford owners to win championships included Duncormick’s John Cleary who won the broodmare title with his Dolly Diamond Dancer and Matt Cosgrove, from Wellingtonbridge, owned the champion foal, a Neringo filly.

J. J Bowe, from Kiltealy, won the working hunter championship with his four-year-old Chesney, while Angus McDonnell took home the ridden hunter title with Statesman, an eight-year-old Ricardo Z gelding.

Another Wicklow winning owner was Derry Rothwell, from Tinahely. He won the young horse championship with his yearling filly Greenhall Lottie, by the Dutch-bred sire Lancelot.

Two more winning Wexford owners were Susan O’Connor whose Trefriw Pepsi was this year’s show hunter pony champion. Her Cleariestown neighbours Barossa Stud cleaned up in the inhand pony section as their three-year-old Barossa Signal, shown by Aidan Sinnott, won both the young stock championship and then the overall in-hand pony championship, on the same day as his owners heard that their champion pony’s sire Rotherwood Peter Pan had died.

Entries were up this year and the day was a fantastic sucess.