Please find below the results to the West Cork Horse Breeders Performance Show 2019 that took place on Sunday the 14th of July.
2016 Performance Show
The 2016 performance show took place on Saturday 16th July at West Cork Equine Centre, Kilbrittain. A large number of horses and ponies came from Cork and beyond to swell numbers and make for an interesting spectacle. Included performing on the day were horses that are sure to make international showjumping and eventing competitions in years to come. The 2014 Young Irelander winner came from our show.
4/5 Year Old Ridden Jumping
There was an even spread among the 4 and 5 year olds with international eventer Michael Ryan bringing 5 horses to compete at the show. He came away with a 1st, 3rd and 4th and was only denied the clean sweep by Eamonn Wycherly
1. Tokyo Drift 5 yo by OBOS Quality ex. GTI Diamond by Glidawn Diamond. Ridden by Michael Ryan
2. Keamore Lord Cruis 5 yo by Lux Z ex. Miss Pearl Day by Cruising. Ridden by Eamonn Wycherly for Brian Sheehan, Leap
3. Master Cobra 4 yo by Cobra ex. Cullain Realta by Puissance. Ridden by Michael Ryan
4. Briar Hill Marco 5 yo by Mermus R ex. Stricker Rua by Malstriker. Ridden by Michel Ryan
Young Riders
The young rider competition was a thrilling contest with 3 up and coming riders that have worn the green jacket for Ireland in International pony and underage horse competitions. Jeremy Sweetnam (nephew of International rider Shane) was 3 handed in the competition with Alex Santry double handed but they were both blown out of the water by Madeline Allen who jumped a double clear round on the homebred Pleasant Cherry Blaze. Jeremy Sweetnam managed second with just one fault in the second round.
1. Pleasant Cherry Blaze (mare) by Fast Silver ex. Raheen Kate by Smooth Stepper. Ridden by Madeline Allen
2. Look Lux Like Jagger (mare) by Lux Z. Ridden By Jeremy Sweetnam
3. Cash Crisis (mare) by My O My d. by Flagmount Boy. Ridden by Alex Santry
3 & 4 Year Old Ponies - Loose Jumping
Judge Tim Hurley had a difficult job separating the ponies in this competition and so the top two were called back to re-jump. It went the way of Seamus O' Driscoll from Drimoleague with his 148 cm 4 year old Falcon Quest but Orla Whelton's 3 year old 128 cm pony Kilcreene Snapdragon was a very worthy contender.
Of additional interest in this class was the 3rd placed pony, an unnamed gelding out of an Irish Draught mare Gairdin Mor Failte as he is a twin and his brother jumped in the later 3 year old loose jumping class.
1. Falcon Quest 4 yo geld by Little Falcon ex. Air Quest. Owned by Seamus O'Driscoll
2. Kilcreene Snapdragon 3 yo geld by Moelview Cherokee ex. Kilcreene Coral. Owned by Orla Whelton
3. Unnamed 3 yo geld by Ghareeb ex. Gairdin Mor Failte. Owned by Carmel Jennings
3 Year Old - Loose Jumping (Millstreet Young Irelander Qualifier)
Twenty seven horses came before judge Olivia Holohan. It was not an easy job as there were some outstanding horses in the field but she eventually whittled it down to the top 5 that were called back into the ring for one final inspection before she announced the placings.Top of the pile was Stephen McCarthys attractive looking filly by Chacoa Blue who just pipped Con Keohane's Kings Master gelding.
1. Leyland Blue Angie (filly) by Chacoa Blue ex. Imperial Gold Flame by Aldatus. Owned by Stephen McCarthy
2. Master Jack by Kings Master ex. Kokopeilli Star by Hernando. Owned by Con Keohane
3. Newmarket Influence by Newmarket Jewel by Fabienne by Equador. Owned by Billy Daly
4. Julie (filly) by OBOS Quality ex. Hesa Clover by Colourfield. Owned by Diarmuid Kelleher
5. Garryndruig Lemoncello (filly) by Amaretto Darco ex. Garryndruig Cruising Akademi by Cruising. Owned by Wayne Santry
2015 PERFORMANCE SHOW
The West Cork Horse Breeders held their annual Performance Show at West Cork Equine Centre, courtesy of Wayne and Geri Santry, on Saturday July 18th. It was a well attended day with some lovely horses on view with main judge Seamus Hayes, a good showjumper in his own right, going away very impressed with both the standard and turn out of the horses and riders on view.
It was a clean sweep for local young rider Olivia Roycroft who also dominated here last year. Her 4 year old winner last year, Dieshone by Diarado wh she scourced in Germany, came back this year to win the same 4 and 5 year old competition. The 4 year olds jump 90cm and the 5 year olds 1m10 so the horse has really progressed in the last 12 months. The runner up spot was taken by Mark O'Sullivan's MHS Quinton with Eamon Wycherly in 3rd on Brian Sheehan's Keamore Lord Lux.
Olivia the went on to win the young rider competition on Rum Swizzle with Valerie Desmond 2nd on Wayne Santry's Knockbrown Cash Crisis. Special mention must go to Ciara Barrett who finished 3rd on board Carol's Tavira. This was Ciara's first ride back after a bad accident 12 months ago which is a remarkable achievement.
Entries for the Irish Draught class were very scarce on the ground and James O'Donoughue's Rochestown Dynamo benefited from a very patient judge who allowed the horse to show his potential and did not rush the rider. The horse is now qualified for the final in Punchestown.
Hayes was very impressed with the standard of the 3 year old horses in the loose jumping competition with three of the first four having already qualified for the Young Irelander final at Millstreet. This allowed the qualifying slots to extend down to both Carol Adams and Bob O'Keeffe.
The first four in the 3 year old loose jumping competition were called back to re-jump one fence while the judge made his final deliberations. In the end the nod went to Stephen McCarthy with HVL Con Girl, by Chipolini VMZ who Seamus Hayes previously competed. In 2nd slot was Michael Kelliher's Zack by the Irish Sport Horse stallion, He's Royalty who previously competed with Francis Connors. In 3rd slot was Con Keohane's Fraser, by the TB stallion Pointilliste out of a full sister to William Fox Pitt's Burghley winner Ballinacoola. In 4th was John Crowley's Bride Valley Naughty Lux by the Hannovarian sire Lux Z. This horse had taken part in the All Ireland 3 year old final at Bannow and Rathangan just two days previously.
Sharon Fitton had a large class of 3 and 4 year old ponies loose jumping but it was a good day for the Harrington's with Alan Harrington's Obama taking top honours from Laura Harrington's Lady Bird ahead of Wayne Santry's Quarryhall Billy. This was Alan's second year in a row winning the pony loose jumping so he must really enjoy his trips to Kilbrittain.
2015 Events and Secretary Letter
The secretary Rosemarie Deasy sent out a letter in April outlining our key events for the year and information on membership and discussion groups as per the 2015 Strategy document from the Department of Agriculture. The letter can be accessed here for those that did not receive it
List of 2015 WCHB Events
- Performance Show, West Cork Equine Centre, Garryndruig, Kilbrittain Saturday July 18th
- Annual Show, Bandon Show Grounds, Castlebernard, Bandon Sunday August 30th
- Horse Sale, Cork Show Grounds Sunday October 17th
Unfortunately we had to cancel the seminar due for April due to problems getting all the speakers but it is hoped to reschedule for the Autumn.
This year our sale will be in a new venue as Munster Agriculture Society have come on board to help us grow the sale. It is hoped to make it a bi-annual sale in years to come similar to the old Cork sales.
Fenyas Elegance and WEG 2014
The West Cork bred eventing superstar Fenyas Elegance and her unassuming breeder PJ Hegarty have been garnering lots of headlines and newspaper space over the last 12 months. And deservedly so too. Her latest appearance was on the eventing team, at the World Equestrian Games in Normandy, that qualified us for the Rio 2016 Olympics. After an initially disappointing score in the dressage she went on, with her Kildare born rider Aoife Clark, to finish 21st of 92 competitors after the showjumping final in D’Ornano Stadium in Caen.
But that does not tell the whole story of WEG 2014. Having spread a plate in racing terms or lost a shoe to the uninitiated just moments before entering the dressage arena down in Haras Du Pin (French National Stud) the officials would not allow a new shoe to be fitted as time slots are very tightly adhered to. So consummate professional Aoife Clark went in with Ellie to do her test rather than miss her slot and leave the Irish team fielding only 3 riders for the rest of the competition.
There must have been a little disappointment with her marks but no one was despondent. After all there was still cross country the next day, Sarah Ennis was in a very good position after dressage, and ground conditions were said to favour the Irish and British teams. The ground for spectators can only be described as going to a point to point in the middle of winter – mud,mud everywhere. Time was going to be tight as fences were huge and although only riders and connections had traversed the actual course the horses would jump on, making it less muddy than the infield for the spectators, conditions were still soft underfoot and would be softer for those coming later on as Fenyas Elegance was.
Every time a French horse was announced as starting the crowd erupted. Fenyas Elegance and Aoife started well and had a super round on the mares first 4* event to come home clear although outside the time slightly. There were a lot of horses eliminated or retired and everyone received time penalties so to have 5 out of the 6 Irish riders (including all 4 of the team) complete XC was a super achievement in itself. PJ’s superstar managed to climb nearly 50 places to go into the showjumping phase in 24th position.
After passing the trot up down in Haras du Pin on Sunday morning it was time for all horses to be loaded on lorries and given a police escort up to Caen for the showjumping final in the afternoon. Camilla Speirs (riding as an individual) on her diminutive Portersize Just A Jif, Sam Watson on homebred Horseware Bushman and Aoife Clark on Ellie were best of the Irish coming in to the competition just outside the top 20.
Just before Ellie came into the ring, the French had erupted as one of their local heros had just had a very good clear round. The noise in the stadium was enough to upset any horse but Aoife kept the mare calm and gave her time to settle before starting her showjumping round. An unfortunate one fence down meant adding 4 faults but still enabled this West Cork owned and bred mare to climb 3 places to slot into eventual 21st and be the best of the Irish.
Fenyas Elegance has now earned herself a well deserved holiday in the good clean West Cork air. There is no doubt we will be seeing plenty more of this mare in the years to come. I am sure the chequebooks will be out and offers made to entice this mare to jump for other nations. Whatever happens it was yet another example of the good horses that are coming out of West Cork.
Some previous newspaper reports on Fenyas Elegance
Southern Star April 2014
BY LEO McMAHON
WEST Cork-owned and bred ten-year-old Fenyas Elegance is officially the eventing number one Irish sport horse mare in the world rankings and the top Irish-owned eventer for 2013.
The remarkable mare, which made three-day eventing history by being the first Irish winner of the prestigious Blenheim Palace CCI 3-Star International in September, is owned and bred by PJ Hegarty, Gaggin, Bandon, and was ridden by Aoife Clark from Kildare, who is based near Oxford where the horse is trained.
At the recent West Cork Horse Breeders (WCHB) annual general meeting, chairman Dan Caverley recognised the massive achievement of Fenyas Elegance and the benefit it can bring in promoting West Cork horses and congratulated Leap-born PJ, a horse breeder for the past 20 years.
Her historic win has also been recognised by Minister for Agriculture, Simon Coveney; Jim Beecher of Horse Sport Ireland; Fran O’Neill of Munster Eventing; Irish Field/Gain Feeds; and in London with a presentation from the Event Horse Owners’ Association.
At Blenheim, said PJ, there were 84 starters from 13 countries all over the world. Fenyas Elegance, then aged nine, was second after dressage on day one. Day two, cross-country was a very demanding ten minutes running over a 6.5-kilometre circuit near the palace with around 40 fences, a grass bank, water jumps and other testing obstacles in which the horse excelled and took the lead by a mere 1.5 points.
Day three was show jumping with over 60 left in the competition and the Irish-bred mare was the last to go as jumping was in reverse order.
‘The tension,’ said PJ, ‘was intense because the two horses preceding Fenyas Elegance jumped clear and were only one and a half points behind her, which meant there was absolutely no room for error, but she did it to the delight of our family, Nick Turner, Eventing Ireland chef d’equipe, and many of Aoife’s supporters looking on anxiously.’
‘It was fantastic,’ PJ added, ‘to have Amhran na bhFiann played with Churchill’s birthplace as a backdrop. Churchill himself was a frequent visitor to West Cork, as he had relatives in Innishannon.
In 12 top-class events in 2013, Fenyas Elegance was in the top ten in all, and had only one pole down all season! She was placed in the British Open Championship at Gatcombe Park, Gloucestershire, winning the award for best young horse, which was presented by Princess Anne with whom PJ had a good chat and found her to be very friendly and engaging.
A great all-rounder, Fenyas Elegance was both All-Ireland and WCHB champion foal in 2004, was the national future event horse champion as a four year old at Tattersalls, and progressed on to be Champion Hunter Mare at the RDS Dublin Horse Show in 2008.
She represented Ireland in the world seven year old championship in Lion D’Angers, France and was Eventing Ireland champion mare in 2012, based on competitions all over the country.
Fenyas Elegance is now a ten-year-old Irish Sport Horse mare by Ricardo Z (ZANG) out of Fenya (ISH), by Good Thyne (USA).
Renowned mare Fenya, which PJ also bred, made history in being the first filly to win the Cork County Yearling Championship at Carbery Show, Skibbereen in 1997. She went on to win both All-Ireland and RDS championships and also show jumped to Grade B all over West Cork including Green Glens, Millstreet; West Cork Equine Centre and Innishannon.
‘Three-day eventing is a very tough discipline, comprising dressage, cross-country and show jumping, requiring different traits such as athleticism, temperament, bravery, style, class, heart, soundness, obedience, and jumping ability,’ he stated.
Dressage was often the Achilles heel for Irish competitors but Fenyas Elegance, being previously a show champion mare, always had a great step, being bred for both performance and looks.
‘Uniquely combining high performance with top quality gives the ultimate result from a sound breeding programme and this unique horse has just that,’ said PJ, a former chairman of Bandon Summer Show and secretary of WCHB, who is married to Una (O’Mahony, Castlehaven). They have a daughter, Aoife, and two sons, PJ and Micheal.
Back in Gaggin, it’s a full-on family enterprise with six horses and, to date, no sponsors despite costly overheads such as insurance, veterinary, farrier, livery, transport and accommodation all over Ireland, the UK and France. Sponsorship, of course, would be most welcome, said PJ, an agricultural advisor with Southern Milling in Cork and part-time farmer with pedigree Belgian Blue and Limousin cattle.
Looking to the future, Fenya’s Elegance will be competing in UK (including Badminton Four-Star Horse Trials in May) and hopefully, the World Equestrian Games in Normandy in August and selection for Ireland at other international competitions.
Indeed, she got the 2014 season off to a great start when Aoife Clark rode her to victory in an open class event at Isleham, Cambridgeshire earlier last month. All going well, it’s hoped this remarkable mare will represent Ireland at the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 2016 and after that enter another new chapter as a brood mare to continue the great success story that is West Cork horse breeding
Bandon Opinion (August 2014)
BY TRICIA TYSON - BANDON BRED HORSE IS WORLD CLASS EVENTER
‘It’s choice, not chance, that makes a champion horse.’ So says PJ Hegarty, Bandon-based breeder and owner of Fenyas Elegance, the 10 year old chestnut mare that has taken the eventing world by storm. Despite their No 1 spot in the current world rankings, PJ is quick to assure The Opinion that this was no overnight success: ‘Horse breeding is a very long term project. It can be 10 or 12 years before a horse reaches its full potential so it’s an unpredictable business, but if you want to be a successful breeder you need to start with the right stock.’ PJ knew early on that Fenyas Elegance, or Ellie as she is affectionately known, was a special horse. ‘I bought her grandmother, Ferryboat Lady, and she became a premier mare with the Horse Board. From her I bred Fenya who was an exceptional showing and sports horse, winning everything from foal championships to All Irelands and the Champion Hunter Mare titles at the RDS. Ricardo Z, currently the leading sire in the eventing world, was the ideal match for her. It is very unusual for both the ‘mammy’ and the ‘daddy’ to be alive when a horse like Ellie becomes successful but Fenya is still with us on the farm in Gaggin and has given us three more foals of great potential, so it shows the importance of the bloodline. Ellie has been a winner and a champion from a foal. We always had high expectations and we’ve not been disappointed.’ Like her mother, Ellie won countless awards including Top Filly at Millstreet, Champion Hunter Mare at the RDS, and Eventing Ireland Champion Mare in 2012. As a 4 and 5 year old, she was a winner during the winters, ridden locally by Wayne Santry and in both these years hunted with the Carbery Hunt at the Gaggin meeting ridden by PJ himself. She was also Hunter Trialled by the Copithorne girls those years. This was excellent schooling and a foundation for an eventer. But 2013 was to prove a stellar year on the international circuit. With Olympian Aoife Clark on board, Fenyas Elegance put down her marker with a second place at Chatsworth International in May last year. At the British Open Championships at Gatcombe Park in August, the pair took 8th place and accepted an award for Best Young Horse from Queen Elizabeth’s daughter, Princess Anne, a renowned horsewoman herself and owner of Gatcombe. But the best was yet to come. In September 2013 Ellie and Aoife Clark became the first Irish pair to win the prestigious CCI 3* International eventing competition at Blenheim Palace, beating 84 top horses, from 13 countries including the US, Europe, Japan and New Zealand. It was the biggest win for any Irish horse since 1969. In March of this year they were back on the winners’ podium at Isleham and in June, with PJ proudly looking on, they won another CCI 3* International at Bramham Horse trials in Yorkshire. A clear round in the nail-biting finish clinched a narrow victory, securing Aoife, Ellie and PJ a place in the history books and cementing their position as the top Irish three-day eventing team in the world rankings. PJ said, ‘It was absolutely unique and the first time an Irish horse has won two 3 star events. Aoife Clark is knocking some performances out of Ellie. They make a great team.’ PJ’s remarkable achievements have been lauded by Agriculture Minister Simon Coveney and leading equine bodies in Ireland and the UK, with the Hegarty family of PJ, his wife Una, daughter Aoife and sons PJ and Michael acknowledged as fine ambassadors for west Cork both at home and abroad. So what next for Ellie the Wonder Horse? Fenyas Elegance will represent Ireland at the World Equestrian Games in Normandy in August. With the Rio Olympics just two years away, PJ is cautiously optimistic: ‘You just have to take these things one day at a time and listen to the experts. Aoife Clark tells me that if Ellie keeps her present form, with a bit of luck she should be an Olympic contender. And if Aoife thinks it, that’s good enough for me.’
Fenyas Elegance is a remarkable horse an in PJ Hegarty she has an outstanding breeder and trainer. He spotted potential and nurtured it to world-beating standards without the financial backing enjoyed by many other successful yards. The sport of Eventing is very fair, you win when a good test is delivered in Dressage, the horse Show Jumps clear, and the Cross Country is Jumped without fault and closest to the allotted time. Eventing is a sport of enthusiastic competitors with a great social aspect with all involved.