Champion Section D stallion Thorneyside The Jackpot with judge Mr Tom Roberts
19 April 2003
The 2003 Lampeter Welsh Breeds Show, held on the magnificent site at Llanllyr Mansion, Talsarn, was a very far cry from the first Show held on the Lampeter town centre showfield on 6 April 1956, when there were 22 Welsh Cob and Welsh pony of Cob-type stallions competing for premiums in two classes with a handful of spectators. This Show increased so much in popularity that a larger site had to be found, and the last four Shows have been very successful at Llanllyr Mansion. The 2003 Show attracted 556 entries in 32 classes with thousands of spectators, many of whom had travelled over specially from overseas. The largest class was for Section D yearling fillies, which attracted 60 entries.
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Champion Section D stallion Thorneyside The Jackpot with judge Mr Tom Roberts |
The greatest excitement is always generated in the last four classes, when £1,000 is distributed to Section D stallions standing at stud in north, mid and south Wales and outside Wales. Their championship went to the south Wales winner, John Merrick's Thorneyside The Jackpot (pictured above), from the north-Wales Llechfryn Ffrwydryn, the mid-Wales Typentre Royal Mascot and the outside-Wales Thorneyside The Predator, who is based in Malvern. Thorneyside The Jackpot is one of four Thorneyside stallions owned by John Merrick at Crickhowell; Llechfryn Ffrwydryn was twice youngstock champion at the Royal Welsh; Typentre Royal Mascot also won here last year; and Thorneyside The Predator sired the winning yearling colt Haniel Nemasis.
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Show president Mr Daniel Morgan with the supreme champion Fronarth Falmai |
One sad note was the recent passing of Mr Sam Morgan, Parc Stud, who had been chairman of this show for 25 years and would have been president and supreme championship judge. In the event, his son Daniel awarded the supreme championship to the two-year-old Section D filly Fronarth Falmai (pictured above), which Kath and Angelo Panayiotou of the Kallistalodge Stud, Burnham in Buckinghamshire, had bought from Fronarth Stud for £7,500 as a foal on the Brightwells Royal Welsh Sale. The Panayiotou family had a very successful show, also winning the Section C yearling filly class with Synod Ruby Gem, which they also bought as a foal on the Royal Welsh Sale for the top foal price of £4,800; and they were reserve Section A youngstock champion with their three-year-old filly Tiffwyl Tia.
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Section A champion and reserve supreme champion Gleiniant Snaffles, with the judge, Mr Jeff Greenow |
Daniel Morgan awarded the reserve supreme championship to the seven-year-old Section A stallion Gleiniant Snaffles (pictured above), owned by Mrs Pauline Lloyd of Newcastle Emlyn and leased to Dennis Price of Llanafan, Builth Wells. Snaffles has won youngstock classes at the Royal Welsh and Royal of England shows, and spent last summer as a premium stallion running out on the Eppynt Mountains. It is planned that he will compete under saddle next year. Reserve supreme youngstock champion to Fronarth Falmai was Cerdin and Doreen Jones's home-bred Section C three-year-old filly Synod Ringlet's Last (pictured below), who had never previously entered a showring — though her sisters Synod Rally, Rebecca and Romantica are well-known winners. Ringlet's Last beat the adults for her Section C championship, making it an almost unbelievable nineteen times for a Synod pony to be engraved on the Pauline Taylor Memorial trophy, which was first awarded in 1970.
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Reserve supreme youngstock champion and Section C champion Synod Ringlet's Last |
Reserve to Snaffles for the Section A championship was the two-year-old filly Penboeth Dilys, owned by Francis and Sally Goggin of Merthyr Tydfil; they sold her dam, Monnow Debutante, on last year's Hay-on-Wye Sale, but after Dilys's success, think they should buy her back! Reserve to Ringlet's Last for the Section C championship was the six-year-old stallion Starcrest Sovereign, owned by Tony Newman of Hayes, Middlesex, who was reserve male champion at the Royal Welsh as a three-year-old and champion many times in Wales last year. Len and Sue Palmer of Blaenafon won the "within Wales" stallion class with their home-bred Blaidd Welsh Victory, well shown by Andrew Griffiths, who is a Cardiff schoolteacher. Reserve Section D youngstock champion to Fronarth Falmai was the three-year-old colt Tawelfan The Enforcer, which is the first horse or pony that Neil MacCarter of Ruthin has ever owned; he also won at the last Royal Welsh Winter Fair.
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Section B champion Rosedale Oberon |
The Section B champion was the five-year-old stallion Rosedale Oberon (pictured above), owned by Lorraine and Les Partridge of Cwmbran, who is another Winter Fair winner, and he beat former Royal Welsh champions in his class. Reserve Section B champion was the yearling filly Celton Moonstone, owned by Kelvin and Barbara Williams of Felindre, Swansea. They bought both her sire and dam Downland Figaro and Downland Moonshadow from their breeder Mrs Kathleen Cuff as foals.
The judges were — Section A: Mr Jeff Greenow, Abergavenny; Section B: Mr John Davies, Boncath; Section C: Mr David Blair, Dunfermline, Scotland; Section D youngstock: Mr John Helme, Colwyn Bay; and Section D stallion: Mr Tom Roberts, Pontypool.
Dr Wynne Davies