Walsh seeks greater use of TB sires

WITH another breeding season in the offing, Horse Sport Ireland chairman Joe Walsh has reiterated calls for the greater use of thoroughbred blood.

“One issue that I would highlight is the need for sport horse breeders to consider using thoroughbred sires on their mares. Only 12% of foals born last year [2010] were sired by thoroughbred sires,” he said.

“I do hear complaints from time to time that we don’t have enough quality thoroughbreds available to the sport horse sector.

“However, I’m not sure that this is the case. It is probably fair to say that we don’t have a lot of proven TB sires and it is a great pity that Master Imp and Cult Hero, who appear on these lists, have passed away.

“However, there are a number of thoroughbred stallions in the country and other stallions with a lot of thoroughbred blood and the thoroughbred percentage in stallions is now available on CapallOir,” he said, referring to the poorly-named, but excellent online version of the Irish Horse Register, containing the records of over 320,000 horses dating back as far as 1890, including performance data.

The most up-to-date data hails from the 2009 coverings/2010 foals. Of the 8,020 coverings in 2009, 5,879 foals were registered in 2010. Just 12.1% were by TB sires, with the rankings topped by foreign breed stallions (29.5%), followed by Class 1 Irish draught (23.6%) — though Class 2 and Class 3 Irish draught stallions added accounted for an extra 6.6% — and Irish sport horses (23.6%).

The top 10 thoroughbred sires in 2010 ranked according to size of foal crop were: (65) Emperor Augustus [USA]; (62) Watermill Swatch; (54) French Buffet, (38) Ghareeb [GB], (36) Master Imp, (22) Lakeshore Road [USA], (20) Near Dock [GER], (19) Rock Hopper, (19) Nigrasine [GB], (16) Stormhill Miller [GB].

A push for increased thoroughbred usage was also evident at last November’s Teagasc equine conference in Fermoy, when a notable statistic from eventing showed TB input fell from 62.5% of horses to 36.4% in the years since the ending of the sport’s long-format in 2004.

Walsh outlined his case for greater use of TB sires in a press release noting the prominence of Irish-based stallions in the British eventing young horse sire tables for 2011.

The tables, published just before Christmas, show that 11 of the top 15 stallions of seven and eight-year-old event horses in Britain are the progeny of stallions standing or who stood in Ireland. Eight of the top 15 sires of five and six-year-olds are by stallions that are standing or stood in Ireland. Three Irish-based stallions featured at the top of the seven and eight-year-old tables: Cult Hero, Master Imp and Limmerick, which finished 2nd, 3rd and 4th, respectively.

Three Irish-based sires also featured in the five and six-year-old table, with Harelequin Du Carel coming out on top, Accondy in 3rd and Ghareeb in 4th.

Walsh said the results were encouraging.

“The eventing market in the UK is a huge outlet for Irish-bred horses and the prominence of the Irish-bred stallions in the tables shows how well Irish horses are doing in eventing the UK,” he said.

THERE are six million reasons why Irish riders such as Cian O’Connor and Conor Swail are crossing the Atlantic to join compatriots Shane Sweetnam, Richie Moloney, Darragh Kenny, Jennifer Crooks, Paul O’Shea and Kevin Babington for the FTI Consulting Winter Equestrian Festival in Wellington, Florida.

The figure, obviously, refers to the level of prizemoney in dollars on offer over the 12-week period.

The WEF claims it is the world’s largest and longest-running equestrian competition, involving 5,000 horses and 2,800 riders from 49 US States and 30 countries. The festival runs from next Wednesday until Apr 1, with each week’s main event on Saturday evening.

FOR some time the sale of top-class Irish horses abroad has led to the calls that a fund be set up help retain bloodstock for Irish riders.

The suggestion will be given further credence following the decision of Ludo Philippaerts to create a Belgian fund that will invest in top horses. It will, according to horses.nl be named BSF (Belgisch Springpaarden Fonds), and at first introduce 12 horses between the ages of five and nine, all initially owned by Philippaerts.

A similar scheme, Springpaarden Fonds Nederlands (SFN), already exists in Holland.

THE Sia Group, selected by Horse Sport Ireland to conduct a review of the poor Irish performance in last year’s European Championships, is seeking submissions from “members of the equestrian community and members of the public”. (See advert below)

The review will include interviews with the team of Billy Twomey, Denis Lynch, Shane Sweetnam, Nicola FitzGibbon and management, including Robert Splaine.

Yesterday FitzGibbon said she had been asked by Sia to do a phone interview, saying said she “no problem” giving her opinion.