*Photograph: Rachel Lyons Photography
AN ENNIS stables took home one of the top prizes at the DAFM showjumping studbook series in Mullingar on Sunday.
Mullingar Equestrian Centre hosted the second leg of the DAFM showjumping studbook series at their Easter Horse Festival show which ran from Friday to Sunday.
Williams Sport Horses located at PARC Stables on the outskirts of Ennis which is run by the Williams family had one of the big wins taking the top spot in the seven year old HSI DAFM studbook series which has a prize of €3400.00 which is regarded as a very competitive class.
Kildare’s Matthew Farrell was the rider on Coco Douglas, a horse that was bred by local breeder Maria Griffin from Ennis, she sold the mare to current owners Kristina and Martin O’Neill when Coco was three years old. Williams Sport Horses are producing the mare for the O’Neills. The breeding sire is Ard Vdl Douglas out of Leahnoir De La Vie (ISH), by Pacino (BWP). The mare was in the RDS as a three year old for the Dublin Horse Show. A total of five horses returned for the jump off in this final.
Also recording a successful finish for Team Williams was Tipperary’s Harriet Penfold who jumped clear in the five year old DAFM Stud Book Final with Grand Amour KPC. The mare is owned by Williams Sport Horses, the breeding sire is Grandorado TN and the sire of the dam is Emerald van’t Ruytershof.
PARC Stables is owned by Adrian and Paula Williams and was set up over twenty years ago. The yard is home to three children Rhys, Coen and Scarlett Williams. Both Rhys and Coen are two of the country’s most promising and successful riders boasting nine European medals, World Cup & over twenty Nations cups wins. The brothers are overseas training in the showjumping field. Leah Clarke is the groom in the stable with Gordon Hogan serving as coach and yard manager.
This series is delivered by Horse Sport Ireland, and funded by the Department of Agriculture, Food, and the Marine (DAFM) under National Breeding Services. The leg was a two day show with the qualifiers on Saturday and the top 25 or all double clears in the five and six-year-olds progressing to the finals on the Sunday. The venue was flooded with entries from across Ireland and the DAFM studbook series classes were no exception. The next leg of the series takes place in the Meadows Equestrian Centre on April 27th.
All photographs by Rachel Lyons Photography
