Galway stud leads the way in the breeding of Irish Draughts

A GALWAY stud farm dedicated to the improvement of Irish Draught bloodlines has ‘swept the boards’ at the Irish Horse Show in the RDS.

Cappa Stud in Annaghdown – owned by Ballinasloe natives, Jimmy and Edel Quinn – not alone landed the Supreme Champion Irish Draught accolade, but also scooped the Reserve award.

Eight-year-old Cappa Cassanova (bred by Seamus Leahy from Headford) took the Supreme Champion award for the third time in four years, having also taken the title in 2012 and 2013 while Cappa Aristocrat (bred by Pascal Claffey, Laurencetown) was Reserve Champion.

Jimmy and Edel Quinn came back from the United States in 2007 with the dream of saving some of the old bloodlines of the Irish Draughts and broadening the gene pool – now the RDS results have shown the success of the project.

“I suppose that since we set up here eight years back, Ireland went through a  severe recession that impacted greatly on the horse industry but things have picked up  and especially so this year.

“We had a lot of faith in the quality of Irish Draught that we could produce and we really have been blown away with our success at the RDS earlier this month,” said Edel Quinn.

Even better news for Cappa Stud is the fact that the winner of the prestigious Three Year Old Potential Event Horse Class – Noble Class – was sired by Cappa Cassanova.

“Noble Class’s win is really good news for us, in that it provides real evidence of the quality of offspring being produced by Cappa Cassanova. He’s had a very busy breeding season this year, covering 70 mares, and it’ll be even busier next year, following these results,” said Edel Quinn.

Cappa Stud,  also have a farm in Gurtymadden near Loughrea catering for over 50 mares – they also have been pursuing the Chinese market for the Irish Draughts with the setting up of an equestrian centre in Shanghai.

Jimmy Quinn said that they had been ‘completely overwhelmed’ with the third success in four years of Cappa Cassanova, while Aristrocrat’s success, at just four, augurs well for the future.

The Quinns are equally as thrilled with the success of Noble Class – son of Cappa Casanova – who was the only horse bred by an Irish Draught out of 17 finalists in the three-year-old Potential Event Horse Class. Noble Class was sired by Cappa Cassanova out of The Marching Lass – the dam sire was Aristocracy.

“This success is truly great news for Irish breeding – to win that class does show that local Irish breeding is again coming to the top,” said Jimmy Quinn.

He bought their first Irish Draught nearly 10 years ago ‘over the phone’ – and while in the U.S. – after seeing an ad in the Irish Field.

“We are excited about the possibilities being opened up at the equestrian centre in Shanghai that has been given the go-ahead since last March.

“Ireland is known as the land of the horse and the Chinese are very anxious that the professional expertise of Irish breeders is to the fore with this project,” said Jimmy Quinn.

This is no business for the faint hearted as over 98% of Irish Draught stallions don’t make it through to the Class One category, having to undergo a rigorous testing regime to ensure that breed quality remains paramount.

These are exciting times for Cappa Stud, with the economy on the upturn and money being spent once more on horses, while China also looms big on the horizon. After recessions and economic downturns, the Quinns seem poised to capitalise on one of the absolute basics of the horse business – good breeding.