A pair of Warmblood stallions bought in Belgium by brothers-in-law Tom Meagher and Maurice Cousins stole the limelight from the cream of the home-bred crop in the prestigious Dundrum four-year-old championship at the Kerrygold Horse Show yesterday.
In a remarkably consistent display, the two bays, which finished equal second earlier in the week, once again earned identical marks of 92.00 from the three championship judges, Gerhard Etter (Switzerland), Markus Buser (Ireland) and Vere Phillipps (Britain).
The verdict eventually went in favour of Ramiro B, the mount and property of Maurice Cousins, which scored two points more than Tom Meagher's Ricardo Z, in the hands of Francis Connors, for ride and temperament.
Although the two Belgian horses transferred to Irish ownership only eight months ago - Cousins describing his winning mount as a New Year's present to himself - they had in fact been under close observation by Tom Meagher for some time. "We've been looking at these two since they were foals, and buying them was an ongoing process," he said.
The best result from an Irish-bred horse in the championship came from Maeve O'Neill's Clover Hill mare, Lismore Clover, which earned very similar marks but finished five points behind the two stallions.