A salute the Master (Imp) ....

A short news story and photograph about a new arrival at a Co Carlow stud appeared back in 1971 in the Irish Farmers Journal. That seven-year-old thoroughbred stallion was Imperius. Who then could have predicted his impact on the Irish Sport Horse scene.

Bought by Tom O’Neill out of Con Collins yard, the rangy brown stallion had won a total of six races, from seven to nine furlongs, during his racing career. His new role was in bloodstock parlance, as a “country stallion”, a role filled by many a blueblood stallion with varying degrees of success during their second career.

The renowned veterinary surgeon, the late Jack Powell, often gleefully recounted the tale of a Horse & Hound sales report in which their bloodstock correspondent pithily remarked that he hoped the new role for the equally beautifully-bred Prefairy was not that of a country stallion.

Tom O’Neill and Jack Powell, in their wisdom, knew the importance of country stallions and how many of their produce brought honour and glory, not to mention profit, to Irish farmer-breeders. Imperius was one such shining example, with his progeny including the home-bred Slygof, who jumped off with Swiss rider Bruno Candrian for a bronze medal at the Los Angeles Olympic Games, and Nelson Pessoa’s three-time Hamburg Derby and Hickstead Derby winner Lora Piana Vivaldi.

Success stories and bloodlines can often peter out. However, a whole new chapter began when Tranquilla, a grey mare bought by Loftus O’Neill from John Hutchinson, was covered by Imperius in 1986.

Less than 20 steps from the Slyguff farmhouse’s back door is the stable that was occupied by the resultant colt – Master Imp – for 22 years. He went straight to stud as a three-year-old and was instantly popular with Slyguff customers, many of whom are third- and fourth-generation supporters.

A colt foal from his earliest crop was one of the Goresbridge sales toppers that autumn and an article written a decade later by The Irish Horse colleague Norman Storey pondered the fate of the top-priced foals from that year. That one, at least, could be identified as Henry Graham’s Master Of Moments, later campaigned on the Grand Prix circuit by Conor Swail.

More show jumping progeny included American export Master Ballinteskin, second in the 2001 World Breeding Federation for sport horses young horse championships in Lanaken for Eddie Moloney and the Army Equitation School recruit, Lismakin.

This speed merchant – successful at Dublin, Rotterdam and Vichy for John Ledingham, Shane Carey and Gerry Flynn – was also on the victorious Nations’ Cup team at Athens.

Eventing in the blood

Master Imp was to prove an even better eventing sire, with Enniskerry Imp the first to flag his sire’s impact on that scene during his transatlantic career with that great supporter of Irish-breds, Phyllis Dawson.

Another American export was Mandiba, who with his younger full-brother, High Kingdom, created a piece of family history when they both competed at Olympic level. High Kingdom was also part of the group which gave Master Imp the honour of having the most progeny at the London Olympic Games. His other eventing contenders were Master Crusoe, Master Rose and Ringwood Magister, with Master Crusoe (seventh) and High Kingdom (eighth) in the individual top 10.

After the London Olympics, High Kingdom added another team silver medal to his and Zara Phillips’ collection, with the pair delivering two of the standout cross-country and show jumping rounds seen at the World Equestrian Games last August.

Best of Master Imp’s progeny in last year’s WBFSH studbook rankings was the Luhmühlen prizewinner Improvise, whose sixth place at Burghley three months later sealed the Irish Sport Horse studbook grip on its WBFSH title.

The Kilkenny-bred Improvise finished in individual 23rd place when the 2014 final rankings were announced in October, and more good news was to follow when the WBFSH sire rankings were next to be published. Introduced in 2008, the first stallion to top these rankings was, in fact, John Hughes’ Holsteiner sire, Cavalier Royale, and since then the lead was held by the Czech-born thoroughbred Heraldik until Master Imp’s breakthrough.

Interestingly, both Master Imp and Heraldik trace back to the 1931 Prix Du Jockey Club winner Tourbillon, bred by Paris industrialist Marcel Boussac at his stud in the hub of French horse breeding country – Normandy.

Unlike the WBFSH studbook rankings format where the top six representatives from member studbooks count, the sire rankings are based on FEI points gained by all their offspring. This can narrow the odds for popular stallions, although one-hit wonders have an impact too.

However, had the 2014 sire rankings been based on the best half-dozen offspring, the Irish-bred stallion would still have headed this year’s list. It was an excellent year for other Irish-based stallions too, with four more in the top-10, namely Ghareeb (fourth), Cruising (fifth), Cult Hero (seventh) and Ricardo Z (eighth).

Having topped the British eventing sire rankings the previous year, Master Imp then completed an unprecedented clean sweep when he became the leading event horse sire in the 2014 United States Equestrian Federation (USEF) rankings. His best performer was Boyd Martin’s Master Frisky whose stable companion Trading Aces (Coevers Diamond Boy) ensured an Irish sires 1-2 in the USEF rankings.

Master Imp

A good-looking brown horse standing 168cm, Master Imp oozed presence. John Lawlor, whose late parents bred Improvise, summed up the Master Imp character well, saying: “I like the Master Imps, they’re fighters, which is what you’d need at that level. A timid horse won’t make it to four-star.”

He generally threw two distinct types: Master Rose and the 2004 Horse of the Year Show supreme champion Zin Zan are typical of his imposing stock from traditional-stamp mares, while blood mares produced the compact, cat-like Master Crusoe type.

All his progeny were brown, bay, (chesnut mares often produced his trademark bright bays) and the occasional grey, but he never produced a chesnut. Master Imp died in November 2009 of a suspected heart attack, a year after his breeder Loftus O’Neill passed away, and left a tally of 1,534 foals.

“We were so lucky to have bred a horse of his calibre and we appreciated him,” said Frances Hatton, who, with daughter Barbara, now runs Slyguff Stud in the middle of a busy livestock farm. In another rare quote, Barbara commented: “It’s great news, especially for owners of Master Imps and for his broodmare daughters too. Loftus always had faith in him and his thoroughbred son Golden Master, and both were bred right here in Ireland. It just goes to show that even though Master Imp wasn’t performance tested, he still produced the goods.”

Golden Master

Golden Master, his sire’s only thoroughbred son, and the traditionally-bred Kings Master, (a half-brother to Highland King), are their sire’s successors at Slyguff.

Taking the handsome Golden Master to Dublin for the stallion parade last August will pay future dividends, but breeders had already started to take notice. Among his book of top mares last year were Paula Cullen’s Calendar Girl and Pat Fenlon’s Ramble Way, the respective dams of 2014 Badminton winner Paulank Brockagh (Touchdown) and Kilronan (Ghareeb), the highest Irish-bred eventer in the 2014 WBFSH rankings.

Paula and Pat were among the Horse Sport Ireland award recipients last November, where Barbara Hatton also received a presentation that evening to mark Master Imp’s WBFSH leading sire achievement.

His final crop are now five-year-olds and among the younger brigade. Set to keep their sire elevated in the rankings for another decade are two bright hopes for the future: Killossery Jupiter Rising, one of several Master Imp-sired All Ireland three-year-old champions at Bannow & Rathangan, and Kilpatrick Knight, selected for the Irish Sport Horse studbook team at Le Lion D’Angers in 2011.

Both horses were recently included in Horse Sport Ireland’s eventing manager Nick Turner’s 2015 high performance squad.

It was all change in the WBFSH show jumping and dressage sire rankings last year with Kannan and Gribaldi, celebrated by their connections for claiming the respective top spots. The order will change all over again in future rankings, but for now – and at a time when Irish breeding is being lambasted for going wrong – a homegrown success story like Master Imp is a reminder of how sometimes it went right too.