Whipper-In Ado Moran negotiates the double bank.
The Kildare Foxhounds, kennelled on the grounds of Punchestown National Hunt Racecourse in County Kildare on the east coast of Ireland, met recently at the village of Grangecon in County Wicklow. The countryside and the village were a sea of autumn colours; even the roads were a carpet of multi-coloured leaves.
Hounds met at Moore’s Pub which is run by Paul Moore, the fourth generation of the family. It is still a gem of an old-fashioned pub and was originally an old coaching stop. It is a sensibly laid out pub for hunting and racing fans, as when you are sitting at the short bar having a drink, you can also pick up a copy of The Irish Field, The Farmer’s Journal, and The Racing Post, which are strategically positioned within arms reach.
County Kildare and Racing
The area is also well known for winning racehorses, owners, and trainers. Bert Firestone in Upperville, Virginia at one time owned both Giltown and Sallymount Studs, and for a time was a Joint-Master of the Kildares. His filly Genuine Risk purchased for only $32,000 won the Kentucky Derby in 1980. She was later put in foal to Triple Crown winner Secretariat, the first time two Kentucky Derby winners were mated, but unfortunately the foal was stillborn.
The Aga Khan and Godolphin, and indeed many of the great names in the industry all have breeding establishments in the county, including The Irish National Stud. What is regarded as probably the greatest flat horse of the modern era, Sea The Stars, stands just down the road in Giltown Stud. He won the 2,000 Guineas, Epsom Derby, Eclipse Stakes, International Stakes, Irish Champion Stakes and the Prix de L’Arc de Triomphe all in 2009, ridden by jockey Michael Kinane and trained by John Oxx. The late Paddy Sleator—followed by punters all over the country and particularly at the Galway Races—used to train in Grangecon. Known as a practical man, Sleator was asked to adjudicate in a dispute over the Bishopscourt Hunter Chase Cup which was open only to farmers farming in the Kildare Hunt District. His definition of a Kildare farmer was “a man who eats his dinner at lunchtime”!
Victor Bowens trains in the area as does Francis Flood who trained the Cheltenham Gold Cup winner Glencarraig Lady. The owners of Moore’s Pub remember the horse being paraded through the village after the victory, and the pubs were open day and night for a week to allow the locals to spend their winnings!
The Foxhounds
Kildare Joint-Masters Charlie Moore, Richard Cope, and Andrew PerrinThe Kildare Foxhounds have had some changes in personnel this season. Joint-Masters Richard Cope and Liz Persse are joined by Andrew Perrin and Charlie and Siobhan Moore.
Whipping-in to huntsman Chris Francis is their new professional whipper-in Ado Moran who comes from a racing and hunting family in Killinick, County Wexford. Colin Barrett is honorary whipper-in. The trio are superb horsemen, and there is nothing in the Kildare hunting country that will hold up them up this season. Moran was riding a five-year-old by Killinick Rebel that he broke himself, and Barrett was on a three-year-old by Luke Skywalker that Moran also broke.
The Kildare Foxhounds have long been admired for their tradition of successful hound breeding. Chris Francis has taken over the mantle of his predecessors, winning three individual classes at the Irish Masters of Foxhounds Hound Show at Stradbally this year, as well as winning the Bitch Championship with Kildare Sample by Middleton Sampson ’03 out of Label ’03.
Being owners of Punchestown Racecourse, the Kildare Hunt has many racing followers. Trainer Paul Deegan who won the Lincoln with Big Robert and the 1,000 Guineas with Lady Springbank was riding racing style with short stirrup leathers. Bloodstock agent and breeder Peter Kavanagh of Kildaragh Stud was also mounted, as was Punchestown board member John Ross. At the meet there were four horses produced by Mikey O’Reardon of Emly, Co. Tipperary
The first draw behind Kavanagh’s Pub at Johnny Markham’s farm was blank. From there they drew Stanley Jackson’s where the spinney did not hold either. But the colours of the trees on the farm were spectacular, like the subject of a classic oil painting which was further enhanced by the Kildare hounds and hunt staff as they left the estate along the avenue. More than sixty riders were out, many of them children, and parents, family and friends were out in support.
The huntsman took the pack across the road and drew David and Diane Nagle’s well known horse breeding establishment Barronstown Stud which was also blank. But the music started in the Black Bog with the deep undergrowth sapping the stamina of the pack. However, they were not deterred, even after a follower mistook a hare for a fox, which momentarily distracted the huntsman with misleading information. He soon had them on as the fox crossed in front of some riders that were hesitant about jumping a big ditch.
Rosemary Rouse on Elizabeth Garraghy’s hunter jumps it with style.A number of farmers were out in support of the hunt, amongst them sheep farmer George Barrett. He took up a strategic position on top of a double-bank between his own farm and Alan and George Manley’s watching out for his son George who sat back in survival posture as he crossed the wide drain. Rosemary Rouse jumped it with style on Elizabeth Garrahy’s grey hunter.
With the fox away, hounds were quickly on the line, banking the barbed wire fence with ease. The Masters and hunt staff were giving a good lead to the followers, but they still had to face five sheep wire fences in Benny Finlay’s and a massive double bank from Manley’s into Declan O’Neill’s. Some hounds hit the electric fence and got a fright, but the huntsman had them concentrating very quickly by recasting them on the line back over a double into Declan O’Neills. When they got to Pat Burke’s, hounds hit electric fences again, so the huntsman stopped the pack as he got to Ivor Eager’s, dismounted, and calmed his young hounds in a kind and sympathetic way. When he felt that they had settled, he drew and found again. They hunted this fox for a few fields, but he went to ground in a freshly dug earth in the middle of a field.
Leaving Eager’s farm, hounds were sent in to draw Eugene Lawlor’s Portersize Plantation but it was blank. Lawlor’s daughter Niamh was on her pony riding up front giving many an adult a lead. Ballycore Hill with its furze is a natural draw to the eyes of any foxhunter as it is such a natural a home for foxes, and it did not disappoint. But the covert stretches back for a long way from the road so unless a fox is under pressure there is no urgency to leave. So it was with this customer who was content to exercise the pack for a good thirty minutes before going to ground. The last draw at David Reid-Scott’s was blank, but it was time to call it a day as hounds had hunted really well and the followers were posed some serious questions over big double banks, drains and wire. Those that finished were the hardy ones.
Posted February 8. 2011
For previous Hunt Reports by Noel Mullins click Horse and Hound/Hunt Reports.
Huntsman Chris Francis and Whipper-In Ado Moran midst a sea of color
Kildare foxhound banking a wire fence