By Horse Sport Ireland / HSI
Photography: Elin Nile; Irish Eventing Times; Ray McManus
The 2023 WBFSH Sire rankings for eventing showed an impressive jump for the traditionally bred Irish Sport Horse stallion Puissance, moving up from 34th place in 2022 to 8th in 2023. He is a deceased son of the Thoroughbred stallion Imperious xx.
Puissance continues to influence eventing breeding through horses such as Oughterard Cooley (ISH)[TIH], Arklow Puissance (ISH)[TIH], SAP Talisman (ISH)[TIH], SBH Big Wall (ISH), and HSH Has It All (ISH) to name but a few of the high performing horses that represented him in competition in 2023.
Also a successful damsire, Puissance (ISH)[TIH] appears in the back breeding of horses such as Dirty Old Town (ISH)[TIH], sired by Cruising; Ambassador (ISH)[TIH]; Finsceal Endeavour (ISH) sired by Metropole (KWPN); and Susie Berry’s 2022 World Championship mount from Pratoni del Vivaro (ITA), Monbeg By Design (ISH) sired by Pacino (BWP).
Bred in 1988 by James Whitty in Co. Carlow, out of the mare Lady Marlane (ISH)[TIH] by Diamonds Are Trumps (ID), Puissance also carried the genes of the Thoroughbred Mythical Sprite in his back breeding. His sire, Imperious (TB), was also the sire of Master Imp (TB), himself a leading sire of eventing horses for many years.
Bought by Stephen Lannigan-O’Keefe as a yearling, Puissance (ISH)[TIH] was produced as young horse by Kilkenny-based Michael Hutchinson in Ballyquirke Stud. Together the pair competed at Grand Prix level nationally before retiring from sport as a 12-year-old to focus primarily on his stud career.
Hutchinson once described him as “Always competitive. He was quick, nimble and brave – there were times I was probably over-brave against the clock, but you never had to worry about him quitting or frightening him. He was only a little over 16 hands, but he always grew in the ring, and big outdoor arenas always suited him.”
As a sire his list of progeny reads like a ‘Who’s Who’ of eventing royalty. Frances Whittington’s Sir Percival III (ISH) completed several CCI5*-L competitions, including Burghley (GBR), Badminton (GBR), Pau (FRA), Luhmühlen (GER), as well as representing Great Britain on the Nations’ Cup team in Aachen (GER)... To read the complete article you need to be a subscriber
CLICK HERE TO SUBSCRIBE TO BREEDING NEWS
SUBSCRIBERS CAN READ THE COMPLETE ARTICLE BY LOGGING IN AND RETURNING TO THIS PAGE
