HSI take a lead from French on breeding strategy

IT could be described as vive la difference for Horse Sport Ireland as it adopts a more laissez faire approach with its proposed breeding formula which, according to chairman Joe Walsh, has been devised with the help of the French national stud.

The new policy — unveiled last Friday as part of HSI’s draft strategic plan — will see the dispensing of the current stallion approval scheme. In its place, while stallions will continue to be assessed, the information will be published to help breeders make an educated assessment.

As with the Selle Francais, success in the competition field and the success of offspring and other relatives will influence the grading of a horse.

“The approach proposed in the strategic plan is based on getting the maximum amount of pedigree data and making it available online,” said Walsh.

“We have been working with the French studbook, Selle Francais, and we are at an advanced stage, with the information likely to be available by early 2009.”

The provision of performance data makes up the second strand of the proposal.

“Over a few a years, we will build up information on performance and make that available. We are working with Eventing Ireland, ShowjumpingIreland and Dressage Ireland to gather this information. We are also working with sales companies and it is planned to track siblings of horses to see their progress,” says Walsh.

The greater use of thoroughbreds is also mooted, while an interesting aspect is the proposed introduction of a “matron scheme” to accelerate the impact on Irish breeding. This will see mares put in foal at, for example, ages four/five and, when they commence their competition careers, they will be permitted to go in classes reflective of the fact they are novices.

“Sport horse breeding is a slow and gradual process, so the sooner you make a start the sooner you get results. The matron scheme is one of the reasons the Scandinavians have been so successful over such a short period of time. In many cases, successful competition mares are not put in foal until their mid teens, so you are delaying the cycle by 10 years. Obviously, by putting an untested filly in foal at an early age, you are taking a chance, but at least you get your results so much more quickly.”

Walsh also said the problem of the best horses, especially mares, being exported would have to be addressed.

“There is a hell of a problem with losing talent, so I hope a lot of preparation will go into devising talent spotting and introducing a scheme for the retention of better young animals. When we get comments and launch the plan we can expect to have a very strong section in relation to that aspect, to encourage owners to keep horses. We will sit down with the Department of Finance to work out tax breaks for people who spend sizeable amounts of money in developing sport horses. We are looking at different models, including taking a share in good stock,” said the Corkman.

PJ Hegarty, breeder and owner of Fenyas Elegance, the mare that won this year’s Future Event Horse League title recently, gave the radical shift the thumbs up.

“It will make it a lot more transparent, so it has to be seen as a good development. It will be a fairer system.

“I’m not surprised that the plan aims for two types of horses — competition and leisure — and the stud fee of a stallion will reflect which of these categories their offspring fall into,” said the Bandon man.

“Performance testing of stallions is a great thing, but mares contribute more to offspring and it important that they be assessed as well, as well as the success of progeny.”

Hegarty feels there should be assistance provided for owners of horses setting out on their competition careers.

“To put up 100 points on a horse takes a lot of money and a lot of time, so there should be consideration to subsiding young horses that have been identified as having potential. Also, there has to be major effort in opening markets, so breeders can get a price that reflects their efforts and their horse’s ability,” said the Bandon man.

Ultimately, though, the new proposal acknowledges that while the Irish Horse Board did its utmost to identify and promote quality stallions, breeders chose to ignore the advice. The new approach recognises this. However, it remains to be seen if it will be a case of plus ca change, plus c’est la meme chose.

DENIS LYNCH must wait until October 16 to hear if a German court will lift his suspension. The Tipperary rider and Germany’s Christian Ahlmann took a civil case against the Federation Equestre Internationale (FEI at a Dortmund court on Wednesday.

The civil case was taken under cartel law, based on the FEI having a monopoly on the governance of horses.

The decision, however, of the court to defer ruling until next Thursday means the ruling could be defunct, as it is felt that the FEI will issue its final judgment before then. The governing body is already a week behind the September 30 date it had proposed.

Lynch and Ahlmann were hoping the court would lift the provisional suspensions — imposed after their horses Lantinus and Coster tested positive at the Olympics — to allow them compete next week in the 1m Global Champions Tour in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Jessica Kürten had her provisional suspension lifted by the Court of Arbitration for Sport when the FEI could not attend a hearing and, as a result, will be hoping to cash-in following her trip to this weekend’s Oslo World Cup show.

Lynch and Ahlmann were among five show jumpers whose horses tested positive for substances containing the pain-relieving drug capsaicin at the Olympics. All received provisional suspensions, though last week the FEI tribunal banned Brazilian Rodrigo Pessoa for 135 days. Yesterday, he too took a civil case, this time in Belgium where he is based. The court is expected to give a ruling today.

MICHAEL and Patricia Ryan made their presence felt at Ballindenisk last weekend when featuring in the line-up in a number of competitions.

Patricia rode Sean Ormonde’s Fernhill Skyport to victory in the CNC two-star, finishing on her dressage score of 35.7 penalties to keep husband Michael and Ballylynch Sky High off the top spot. The Limerickman rode a clear in the cross-country after four-faulting in the show jumping and his score of 42.1 penalties was good enough to see him pip Denise O’Brien on Tommy B Good by 0.7pens.

In the CNC three-star, Michael placed third with Ballylynch Adventure on 50.2, having added just 2.4pens on the cross-country. The clear winner was Fraser Duffy on Flamenco Star, the CNC two-star winner at the Cork venue in August. Like four of the six finishers in a contest that began with nine runners, the Tipperary-based rider had time faults, with 4.8 penalties added to his dressage score of 33.7pens for a total of 38.5pens. Sam Watson, riding Ballybolger Bushman, was the only rider to end the cross-country fault-free and, despite eight show jumping faults, he placed second on 47.6pens.

Ryan and Watson also had to settle for the minor placings in the Michael Leonard Memorial for five and six-year-olds. Riding Ballylynch Taldis Porter, Ryan again was third, while Watson, with Marlboro Man, again ended runner-up, as Frances Younghusband on Ballintogher Gigolo took the honours.

Giving the Ryans further cause for cheer was Brian Morrison. The Bandon couple have decided to put Dances With Wolves on the market as a young rider horse and chose Morrison to showcase its talents. The Clonakilty 17-year-old did not disappoint. Sharing first with Robert Suffern (Old Flames) after dressage on 30.5 penalties, he kept a clean sheet thereafter, as his rival added eight in the show jumping to finish second, with Sarah Berry and Louellas Bay Vanesse third on her dressage score of 41.9pens.

Sue Shortt, meanwhile, had four penalties in hand when winning the CNC one star, having only recently taken up the reins on Dairine Kennedy’s Montoya. Shortt added just 0.4 penalties in the cross-country for a winning score of 28.

BILLY TWOMEY led three Irish riders into the top six of a 1.45m jump-off class on the opening day of the Horse of the Year Show in Birmingham, England, yesterday.

Riding the chestnut mare Fantasia, the Cheshire-based Corkman had a second to spare when fastest of 11 in the timed round.

Meath-based Cian O’Connor finished third after four-faulting with Dermot O’Rourke’s eight year-old mare Baloufina, while five faults for Kilkenny-born Ivan Dalton was good enough for sixth place on another chestnut mare, Neil Jones’s Corcovade.