Published: Wednesday, 27th August, 2008 12:00pm

Racing

THE 3 Year Old Loose Jumping Final and August International Performance & Elite 3 Year Old Sale at Cavan Horse Marketing Centre Tuesday 19th, Wednesday 20th & Thursday 21st August was a huge success.

The night before the sale, a fantastic crowd attended the final of the 3 year old loose jumping competition sponsored by Drumhowan Stud, Castleblayney, Co. Monaghan. This event generated huge interest and indeed the top priced animals from the sale originated from these 3 year old loose jumping finalists. The first of these was a bay colt sired by Heartbreaker with Burgraf the sire of the dam which fetched €35,000 for his owner Angela Conway, while the second highest at €26,000 and put forward by Joe Reilly, Cavan was a bay colt by Cavalier Royale out of a Cloverhill mare. The tremendous interest generated by the 3 year old loose jumping final on Tuesday night is reflected in the average price realising €11, 000 up a tremendous.

In total almost 140 horses and ponies were sold, all finding homes across Europe, in the UK with many also making shorter journeys to new homes in Ireland.

The top priced ponies over the two days were as follows: 24 Hatton, R 11 Year Old, Grey Gelding, 148cms Approx England €5600

201 Howley, O 8 Year Old, Bay Mare, 148cms Approx Ireland €4700. 21 Gilmore, F 14 Year Old, Grey Gelding, 148cms Appx Ireland €4100; 30 Staunton, W 4 Year Old, Grey Gelding, 148cms Approx Ireland €4100; 5 McCutcheon, D 5 Year Old, Skewbald Mare, 128cms Appx Scotland €3600.

Intense competition

Competition among buyers was intense for both ponies and horses of good proven pedigree and those who performed well before going into the sales ring. This is reflected in the prices above for ponies and also in the prices for horses outlined below;

The top priced horses over the two days were as follows: Lot 119 Conway, A 3 Year Old, Bay Colt, 168cms Approx Ireland €35,000;

113 Reilly, J 3 Year Old, Bay Colt, 170cms Approx Ireland €26,000; 253 Doogue, A 5 Year Old, Bay Gelding, 165cms Approx England €20,500; 120 O"Callaghan, M 3 Year Old, Grey Gelding, 167cms Appx Italy €20,000; number 80 Rice, L 9 Year Old, Bay Stallion, 171cms Approx Ireland €18,000; 118 Masterson, D 3 Year Old, Grey Colt, 168cms Approx Ireland €17,000

Busy sales month

October is a very busy sales month at Cavan which starts with the National Registered Irish Draught Sale on Tuesday 30th September & Wednesday 1st October followed by a 2 day Young Sport Stock sale on the 2nd and 3rd October and entries are closed for both these sales. The October sales concludes with 3 days of sales - an International Performance Sale on the 7th & 8th October and a Connemara Sale on the 9th October and entries for these sale close on 9th September (or on receipt of 120 Entries for the Connemara sale).

Entry forms can be obtained by contacting Cavan Equestrian Centre on 049 4332017 or they can be downloaded from www.cavanequestrian.com.