A £26,000 CUP presented to the Royal Dublin Society in 1882 by the Earl of Pembroke found its way back to the RDS this week after an absence of 70 years.
The Pembroke Cup was won outright by a legendary horseman, Owen Ryan, back in 1927 and was not taken back to Dublin again until yesterday.
When Owen Ryan died his daughter Shiela Ryan, brought the cup, which was the pride of the family, to her stud farm near Mullingar in 1942.
But she died some months ago and, remembering her mother's affection for the RDS and the world of the Irish horse, her daughter, Pat, decided the cup should return to Ballsbridge.
Pat, a New York journalist, made the trip yesterday to present the cup with its new name to the owner of the best filly at the show.
The cup has been renamed the Owen Ryan Perpetual Cup and she presented it to P.J. O'Mahoney of Glounthaune, Co Cork. "It was a great day for the Ryan family and for the RDS," she said.