Dates for your diary

Attention young breeders

On Wednesday 4 April, Teagasc are hosting a Young Breeders Seminar at the Hodson Bay Hotel in Athlone.

This is a must attend event involving multiple panel discussions with distinguished industry experts from home and abroad.

Topics to be covered during the seminar include:

• Breeding, trade and assessing horses

• Career options and pathways in the thoroughbred sector

• Career options and pathways in the equine industry and the sport horse sector, specifically

• The Young Breeders Programme

International show jumper William Funnell of Billy Stud will join Tiernan Gill, Barry O’Connor and Andrew Hughes to discuss breeding, trade and how to assess a selection of horses (videos) with participants.

This is set to be an interactive, engaging day with lots of variety.

Tickets cost €20, to book your place or for more information visit teagasc.clr.events or alternatively you can email wendy.conlon@teagasc.ie or crea.english@teagasc.ie.

Allen’s St Patrick’s Day win

Wexford’s Bertram Allen and Australia’s Edwina Tops-Alexander combined to win the pairs competition on St Patrick’s Day at the stunning Grand Palais in Paris, France – sharing the winners prize of over €53,000.

The pair were leading after the first round with two clears – Allen riding the nine-year-old gelding Christy Jnr, while Tops-Alexander was aboard the mare Lintea Tequila. Tops-Alexander went clear again in the second round while Allen completed the course with just one fence down, which was enough to give them victory.

“It went right down to the wire,” Allen said. “Edwina made my job easier by doing two clear rounds. I knew I could only afford to make one mistake if we wanted to win so I am really happy.

“What’s more, my nine-year-old horse is still a novice at this level of competition. He is still learning, so I am really happy with him.”

Sweden’s Malin Baryard-Johnsson and French rider Kevin Staut finished as runner-up, while the all French pairing of Margaux Bost and Cedric Angot took third place.

Second date for Monty Roberts demo

Californian horseman, Monty Roberts is currently on a tour of the UK. He will arrive in Ireland next Friday ahead of a sold-out Saturday, 24 March performance at Cavan Equestrian Centre. With tickets for Monty Roberts’ first date selling out, a second date has now been added at Cavan EC for Sunday, 25 March.

Tickets are available at www.eventbrite.ie (search Monty Roberts), priced €27.50 each.