There cannot be many stud farms which have had one of their stallions featured on a national postage stamp. This is a distinction held by Slyguff stud, one of the IrelandÕs most prolific producers of successful sport horse sires.
Founded over sixty years ago by Tom OÕNeill, Slyguff Stud is today in the capable hands of TomÕs children, Loftus OÕNeill and Frances Hatton, together with FrancesÕ daughter Barbara, all of whom are totally dedicated to producing top quality showjumping horses.
... Q Was King of Diamonds typical of Irish cross breeding?
Well he is registered as a full Irish Draught, but he actually contained some thoroughbred blood as well. He was by Errigal a son of Silvermines, which accounts for the Irish Draught portion of his breeding. His dam Ruby, was bred by my father and was by Trueboy a half-bred horse which traces back to Kildare, another well known Irish Draught stallion at the time. But his grand dam was Biddens, a thoroughbred mare, which gave him quality.
Q What made him special?
He was impressive looking, he was always very proud and kept himself looking over the heads of everything else. You can see this in any pictures of him, even in this one, he didnÕt live a year after it was taken and while his body and topline is gone, heÕs still a big proud horse. And he was a big man too at almost 17hh. But what made him special was that he passed this character on to his offspring. There was one time that the Boomerang class at Millstreet almost belonged to the King, there were so many horses sired by him that won it. He covered a lot of mares in his lifetime; an average would have been 100 mares per year until he was about twenty. He was retired at twenty-five and lived another three years. ...
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Photo: Peter Llewellyn |