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| By Ruth Loney NECARNE Castle Indoor at Irvinestown was packed last Saturday as hundreds of breeders gathered for the 14th annual Northern Ireland Stallion Parade. Highlight of the day was the loose jumping of thoroughbred sires which proved to be a positive boost for sporthorse breeding and added quite a few more orders to the bookings for the studs who participated. Paddy Joe Foy of Westport, past chairman of the Irish Shows Association travelled with his good looking son of Hansel out of a Well Decorated Mare - Ashwood Angel. The bay sire which had Mr Prospector as his great grandsire did the pedigree lines proud as he wowed the showjumping die --hards with his technique, temperament, scope and movement. Spirit House was the thoroughbred which they had all been searching for and as Maguiresbridge showjumper Edgar Hogg said: "This stallion was serious. I couldn't believe how good he was and also the fact that Paddy Joe didn t overcook him at the fences. "The stallion did all he had to do in the time allowed and could have gone higher. His technique was superb and he gave us all hope in using the thoroughbred sire on the good half bred or Irish Draught mare to produce the traditional Irish Sporthorse which we know." Helen Troughton's Present Arms by Affirmed out of a Au Printemps by Dancing Champ certainly did her stud proud and he made a serious effort to take on the coloured poles. With Mrs Peterkin in his dam s side - Present Arms came into the arena with a certain air of confidence that the coloured poles were there to be jumped. He took on every fence in the combination which was asked of him and was another sire which certainly will have a few more mare bookings this season. Vic Robinson's Rachelle Comet by the Sir Ivor sire Nemorino out of a Track Spare mare - is an old hand at loose jumping despite being foaled in 1987. Already he has sired the 1.30m All Ireland Novice showjumping champion at Millstreet and last year s all Ireland yearling champion at Ballinasloe. Vic has always sent him over loose jumping to show clients, so Necarne was nothing new to this seasoned campaigner whose youngstock are prolific contestants in three year old loose jumping competitions. Rachelle Comet was eager to please and despite his age, he looked like a three year old and enjoyed his loose jumping rounds showing off his extravagant front action which has made him popular with the showing breeders as well as jumpers. Grand Prix showjumping breeder Ronnie Smith from Seskinore also presented The Greek One by Sir Ivor Again in the loose jumping section. Once again another thoroughbred which will attract mare owners this season and from Necarne should enjoy an increase in trade. The thoroughbred section was by far the most exciting part of the parade since thoroughbreds have been fighting their corner against the warmbloods for some time. Now that Ireland has won the World Breeding Rankings again for event horses - the use of the thoroughbred is more important than ever. It seems the loose jumping of racing stallions is the way forward for the Sporthorse sector and lets hope a more competitive section appears on the circuit. Certainly it is a crowd puller and there is nothing more interesting than to see a thoroughbred making all the right signals. The NI Stallion Parade continued long into the afternoon with a good showing of all round performance stallions including the international horses Hermes de Reve with Clement McMahon and Out of Touch with James Kernan. Last News, the US bred grey stallion which was earlier listed for Knockrath and later withdrawn when the Stallion committee said he was not fully approved with the board - was the only disappointing absentee on the day. With more than 150 mares to foal this year to Last News he was one of the most interesting sires to have his attendance decided upon. From the same bloodlines as the great Gem Twist and bred by Frank Chapot - Last News is a great favourite with breeders. The Northern Ireland Stallion Parade attracted a large number of trade stands and the crowd enjoyed seeing the sires at first hand in the warm up paddock outside and downstairs at ground level. The weather stayed pleasant and breeders travelled from as far away as Cork, Galway, Roscommon, Clones, Sligo and Limerick. |