21st RDS Breeders Championship looms
Qualifiers for the final will be held at various shows around the country over the next number of weeks.
A €20,000 prize fund is aimed at encouraging more people to show their mares and foals, especially at the qualifier stage.
Substantial prizes awarded down to tenth place makes the Irish Horse Board sponsored competition the most attractive breeders’ competition in the country.
Last year’s winner, Leader Star and her Big Sink Hope filly foal won not only the first place prize of €5,000, but the additional €3,000 allocated to the best foal by a thoroughbred sire.
Leader Star owned by Sligo vet Jim Tempany will not line out for the qualifiers this year as she slipped her foal earlier in the season.
An RDS exhibitors’ survey in 2004 indicated a need for better quality in animals being bred and a need to increase the numbers of animals bred along the traditional lines using thoroughbred sires.
Statistics issued by the Irish Horse Board has shown that the number of foals registered by thoroughbred sires has dropped from 60% at the start of the nineties to less than 25% in 2005.
The Irish Horse Board Breeders’ Championship gives recognition to breeders who keep quality mares and produce stock of such quality that they inevitably rise to the top in the show and competition rings.
A review of previous show catalogues indicates that many of the foals that qualify for the Breeders’ Championship in Dublin with their dams regularly come back to the Dublin Horse Show and compete successfully in both led classes and under saddle.
For many breeders the competition offers a place to bench mark their stock against others and to determine the progress they are making with their breeding enterprise. It also offers breeders the opportunity to sell their produce out of the ring.
This year’s Fáilte Ireland Dublin Horse Show will take place from Wednesday, August 9, to Sunday, August 13.
The preliminary round of the Irish Horse Board Breeders’ Championship will take place on the Friday of the Show with the final taking place on the Saturday.
