By Horse Sport Ireland
Photography: Sportsfile
Loss of a legend. The eventing world was saddened this year with the loss of the legendary traditionally bred Irish Sport Horse, Lenamore (1993: Sea Crest [RID] - Karinella xx [IRE] x Valiyar xx [IRE]) (ISH)[TIH].
Continuing our focus on smaller breeders of successful horses at the top of their sport, Horse Sport Ireland spoke with Ted and Helen Walsh to hear about the breeding of one of the great Irish eventing horses of the last 20 years. Bred in Co. Kildare, the grey gelding proved ever popular and successful on the international eventing circuit.
Lenamore (ISH)[TIH] had over 30 international starts, 15 top-10 international finishes, 12 five-star completions and eight top 10 finishes at five-star level. His greatest achievement came in 2010 when he won the prestigious Burghley Horse Trials in England.
A Traditional Irish Horse, Lenamore (ISH)[TIH] was by the Irish Draught Sea Crest, out of Thoroughbred mare Karinella, by Valiyar (TB). Irish racing legend Ted Walsh recalls the story of how Lenamore (ISH)[TIH] came about. “I bought the mare in Goffs and decided I was going to breed a couple of Thoroughbred mares to Mary McCann’s stallion Sea Crest (IDC1). I sent the mares and got four or five foals,” Ted said. “At the time I thought it was a good idea, when they were yearlings, I decided to sell them. We had no young children at the time, so I sold them all. That’s how it all came about, there was nothing scientific about it or I definitely didn’t think I was going to breed a horse like Lenamore (ISH)[TIH].” Two of the horses Ted sold went on to have notable success, one showjumped with Leslie Fitzpatrick and the other was Lenamore (ISH)[TIH].
The Walsh family followed Lenamore’s (ISH)[TIH] progress closely as, at the time, their daughter Katie was eventing another homebred, Stonebrook (ISH)[TIH], by Cruising (ISH) [TIH], out of Ostend (TB). This partnership represented Ireland at European Cham-pionship level in the Junior and Young Rider ranks. The dam of Stoney-brook(ISH)[TIH], Ostend (TB), was a mare by the prolific sire Bahrain (TB) and was, coinciden-tally, a race winner for Ted in 1986. There was also a full sister to Lenamore (ISH)[TIH] bred by the Walsh family called Karinella Rosie (ISH)[TIH]. This mare in turn was the dam of the international eventing competitor, Karinella Ruby (ISH) by Iroko (Westf). This mare was ridden by Britain’s Hannah Hall... To read the complete article you need to be a subscriber
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