Holstein breeder strikes gold on equine scene with Conflated success
Terry, Kevin, and Barry Dillon, Clonakilty, West Cork with May Dullea, a sister to Conflated. Picture: Dan Linehan
A good eye for livestock and bloodstock has served the Dillon family of Clonakilty well.
The family have strong roots in the dairy breeding world, but now they are at the top of the racehorse breeding ladder, after producing the winner of Ireland's top Grade One three-mile steeplechase.
Terry and Barry Dillon (and their father Kevin, the former chief executive of the Irish Holstein Friesian Association) are the breeders of Conflated, one of Ireland's top jumping racehorses after winning the Paddy Power Irish Gold Cup, and being beaten narrowly in the Betway Bowl Chase last month at Aintree.
There is a now established Co Cork tradition of breeding thoroughbreds alongside dairying - the winning pattern at the Motherway family's Yellowford Farm at Killeagh in east Cork, where Terry Dillon's interest in thoroughbreds developed.
Yellowford Farm are thoroughbred breeders and consignors at all the major sales. Alongside a large dairy herd, 35 broodmares are kept, and a full livery and foaling service is provided.
Terry Dillon provided advice on cattle breeding for Yellowford Farm, and was impressed by the thoroughbred side of the farm.
Meanwhile, his brother Barry was also learning about thoroughbred breeding at a neighbour's farm.
Another dairy farmer excelling in thoroughbred breeding, Pat Tobin at Courtmacsherry in West Cork, produced On The Fringe, which made hunter chasing history with its wins at Cheltenham, Aintree, and Punchestown.
Mr Tobin has also bred racing stars such as Wichita Lineman, Pause And Clause, Sir Erec and Coney Island. Similarly, it was while serving as a farm apprentice at Yellowford Farm that Mr Tobin learned about thoroughbreds.
Barry Dillon was carrying out work on the milking parlour at Pat Tobin's farm when he was impressed by the thoroughbred setup there. Encouraged by Yellowford's and Pat Tobin's great success, the Dillons purchased a filly foal called Saucy Present from Yellowford.
"We liked the family," said Barry — that was nearly 20 years ago, and now Saucy Present's colt foal by Yeats, born in February 2014, has really put the Dillons on the map.
They sold the foal through Yellowford Farm for €46,000 at the Tattersalls 2014 November National Hunt Sale.
Resold at the Tattersalls 2017 Derby Sale for €92,000, Conflated ended up in the ownership of Michael O'Leary's Gigginstown House Stud, in training with Gordon Elliott.
The rest is racing history, with Conflated now the winner of over €300,000 on the racetrack, striking hot form this year to win the Paddy Power Irish Gold Cup, ridden by Corkman Davy Russell.
The success will be honoured at Clonakilty Point to Point races on Sunday, May 22, at Inchydoney where the races committee will make a presentation to the Dillon family.
The Dillons are also well known in the dairy industry, playing major roles in the breeding behind Ireland's annual dairy exports worth more than €5bn per year.
Barry, who is still in the dairy equipment business (he works with ICBF as a milk meter technician) takes care of the horses, and the remaining pedigree dairy animals, helped by his father Kevin. Terry and Barry have inherited Kevin's good eye for livestock and bloodstock.
A native of north Kerry, Kevin worked for the Department of Agriculture before moving to Clonakilty, where he made his own bit of Cork-Kerry GAA history by playing senior football for Cork, and established two farm enterprises — a pig farm and the Mountcarmel pedigree herd, while also working in bovine genetics sales.
In the 1970s, Kevin produced some of the country's best pedigree Landrace pigs. And the Mountcarmel name is still dotted throughout the lists of the country's top pedigree dairy cattle.
Kevin cut back his dairying activity in the 1980s, but still kept about 10 purebred Holstein Friesians and sold heifers off them. Now, there are just four of the Mountcarmel cows left on the farm, with the cows often shown at Millstreet and Cork County Summer Show.
But it's a case of quality over quantity on the farm. As recently as 2018, Mountcarmel cows have been picked up Highest EBI awards at prestigious shows such as the Millstreet National Dairy Show, with the prefix still frequently featuring highly in the annual classification lists published by the IHFA.
Meanwhile, he took on the job of Irish Holstein Friesian Association secretary, and went on to become the first chief executive of this organisation owned by 3,700 dairy farmers, responsible for the herdbook of Ireland's Holstein Friesian cattle and for developing and promoting the breed.
A North Kerry connection to racehorses is a key part of the Dillons' story, because Kevin is a first cousin of Tommy Stack, the jockey best known for piloting Red Rum to a third Grand National victory, before going on to training success.
Kevin still keeps a few pedigree Holstein Friesians, but the family have now struck gold in the form of Conflated from a strong breeding line which has Presenting as the sire of Saucy Present, and her dam's sire is Strong Gale.
Saucy Present (which has only one eye, and is unraced) has produced only three colts, which also include Ordinary World (sired by Milan), a Grade One chaser when trained by Henry De Bromhead. Saucy Present produced six fillies, including a Vadamos daughter this year.
Also useful on the track was Saucy Present's daughter May Dullea, now a broodmare on the Dillons’ farm, with three of her colt foals coming on. Her Walk in the Park colt foal will be aimed at the autumn sales.
The Saucy line descends from Saucy Vic, an unraced mare which is the source of several Grade 1 winners. So the Dillons are eagerly looking forward to the upcoming Tattersalls Ireland Derby Sale, which will include their three-year-old Walk in the Park, sister to Conflated.
The Dillons' achievements mark the latest West Cork connection with the top flight of National Hunt racing.
Perhaps the biggest of all those connections was the Clonakilty-owned (by Lisselan Farms, only a half-mile from the Dillons' farm) Imperial Call winning the Cheltenham Gold Cup in 1996 (trained by Fergie Sutherland).
Three years later, Imperial Call made a dramatic winning comeback in the Heineken Gold Cup, now trained near Clonakilty by the 23-year-old Raymond Hurley, who will be the official starter at the local point to point on May 22, and is a valuable longtime member of the races committee.
