In Profile – Dermot Molloy – Across All The Miles

Dermot Molloy, from Nine Mile House in Co. Kilkenny, talked to the Irish Horse Board after a remarkable Balmoral double with his purebred Irish Draught winner Two Mile Nigel, and why he feels demand is so strong for ridden Draughts.

“We live halfway between Kilkenny and Clonmel and we were brought up hunting with the Kilmoganny Harriers. My parents always had horses when I was growing up, they used to hire horses to the local hunt and we just got into horses that way.

Before our children came along, we would go hunting two days a week but you couldn’t go hunting on the Wednesdays and Sundays because Amy and Mark were young. So we went more into performance classes with the Draughts, hunter classes, showing youngstock because the children can come along with Michaela and myself, they’re happy and we’re all together for a family day out, topped off by an icecream!

I would have some sport horses but mainly Irish Draughts because they’re very saleable. Normally, we buy them as yearlings, we might buy four youngsters every year and then we break them as three-year-olds. Some get sold on, just to pay bills and keep the show on the road.

Draughts are just very saleable horses once they’re doing their job right. It’s not always about the jump all the time; we can sell Draughts that don’t even have a brilliant jump once they’re safe, a nice ride and a nice model. There’s always a customer for them and the demand is as strong as ever from English buyers.

The Draught is the perfect amateur horse too if its for hacking or riding club level. If people just want a civil, sensible horse, the Irish Draught will give them all that. They’re good doers which is important. Sometimes you have to keep them away from the field in case they’d get too heavy but that’s a great complaint!

Our Balmoral champion Two Mile Nigel came from Co. Kerry, he was actually between a foal and a yearling when we bought him in January. We bought his year-older full brother that day too, his name was Two Mile Matthew and I produced him as a four-year-old but I never even got to show him. I sold Matthew from the yard to a Kilkenny girl and he actually came fifth in the middleweights in Dublin.

“THE EASIEST HORSE”

Two Mile was the man’s prefix and we always like when the breeder puts that effort of adding a prefix and wants to trace and track horses. We like that. Actually, it’s a very unique name and everybody knows Nigel now.

He’s a total gentleman. Like, I could leave Nigel off for three weeks, we don’t over-ride him and he’s as soft as could be. He broke very easy, that first week I could have brought him to a ridden class, he was that forward and easy. The first week, which is very unusual, it doesn’t happen.

He just had a real brain, he’s kind, he does everything, he’s the easiest horse I ever had. The first competition I done on him was the Northern Ireland Festival last year. I won the novice four-year-old on him and he went supreme champion of show.

Diarmuid Ryan rides some of my horses for the Dublin qualifiers and after Cavan, he schooled him to get him ready for the first qualifier in Tullylish.

He won each section, qualified for Dublin first time out and we put him away for a month’s break.

Nigel might have been a little bit fresh for the first class in Dublin because we hadn’t a lot done with him but he came third in the Irish Draught four/five performance final on the Wednesday morning.

He went in the heavyweight hunter class on Friday morning and was third again. Then on the Sunday afternoon, he went in the four-year-old working hunter class, won that and that evening, he went on to be reserve working hunter champion to Clandeboye and Louise Lyons. Two pure-bred Draughts.

Louise [and Clandeboye] was working hunter reserve champion this week at Balmoral so we flipped the Dublin result. Nigel has had another year under his belt and he did a smooth round in his class. Louise acknowledged that too, she said he was good on the day and everything went well. Louise only lives around 14 kilometres from me and I’ve schooled my horses over in her place, so we’re practically neighbours.

Nigel won Thursday’s Irish Draught performance championship at Balmoral too and the plans for the rest of the year .. we didn’t do Cavan [Northern Ireland Festival] this year as it was too near Balmoral. So we just put a plan in place that we’d go to Balmoral and whatever happens, happens.

The Dublin qualifiers are three weeks after Balmoral so, touch wood, he’ll qualify again for the four/five-year-old performance Irish Draught on the Wednesday morning and then he’ll go for the five/six-year-olds working hunter class on Sunday.

DRAUGHT DOMINATION

We have had offers for Nigel, people have tried to buy him and we do sell a lot of ours. We try to keep no horses, we sell them as four, five and six-year-olds but this horse, we’re going to leave him here for a while.

He’s so easy, he causes no trouble and then when you’re selling your good horses all the time, we never get the enjoyment of them!

He would actually promote our horses too, people are asking have we more like him.

We’ve always loved the Draught and Nigel is kind of special. My daughter Amy loves him, he’s so kind with the children and he’s the family horse now, so we’re happy to keep him. That kind of horse doesn’t come along too often.

Diarmuid does a brilliant job with him. I always said to Diarmuid, ‘this horse is made for you’. He loves the horse too, he wanted to win the Balmoral championship so he’s happy to cross it off his list!

He does the horses brilliant, he schools them so well and he’s just a gentleman to work with. We don’t even have to talk about plans, he knows what we want.

The Draught is very popular at the moment, like, Goresbridge is also nearby and you see how well the Draughts are selling at the sales there.

It’s gas even at Balmoral this week to see all the Draughts for the championships. William McMahon won the four-year-old hunter class and went supreme champion of show [Tulcon Hero]. Then we won the performance championship and then the working hunter championship. There’s maybe 30, 32 in the classes and only five or six purebred Draughts amongst them.

I did win in Balmoral before, I actually won the yearling class with King Of Kerry, there you go – Kerry again! He was by Lagan OBOS Quality, a black horse, just black and he actually came second in the four-year-olds at the Northern Ireland Festival there a couple of weeks ago.

We keep the occasional nice half-bred. I won the All Ireland yearling filly final in Bridgetown the year before Covid with Ballyduggan Lady, by Condios. I was really looking forward to bringing her to Dublin but then there was no Dublin the following year. 

It’s a small horse world in Ireland, amongst Draught people especially. We know more people in Galway because Galway’s the home of the Draught now. Galway, Mayo, all that side of the country. We know more people in the west – and Kerry! – through the Irish Draught. It’s a great breed. Great people.”

BREEDING

Two Mile Nigel (ID) – 2020 gelding by King Vinny out of Two Mile Gretta, by Penmerryl Rhythm and Blues. Breeder: Jerry McMahon, Co. Kerry. Owner: Dermot Molloy.