Celtic Winners was conceived in 1997 when the love affair with Ireland began!

It was in March, 1997 that the first Irish import arrived for Celtic Winners in Australia - Holy Diamond, a 1989 stallion by Holy Cross out of a Kingsway Diamond mare.

Holy Diamond had a slightly chequered start to his life and features highly in the Monty Roberts book "The Man Who Listens To Horses" and he went on to be a great success story for Kill International Equestrian Centre and Denis Flannelly.

Denis Flannelly competed Holy Diamond very successfully in showjumping and took the horse to Grade B when he was sold to Australia.

By this time Holy Diamond was one of the most gentle and easily managed stallions one could dream of being around and he charmed Australia from the moment he arrived and cleared his 3 weeks in quarantine. His first stop in Australia

was a night at the Sydney Showgrounds during the Royal Easter Show and Holy Diamond stood like a child in Disneyland watching the fireworks which exploded over his stable!

Sadly this great stallion died just 6 short months after arriving in Australia but thanks to the magic of modern day technology and frozen semen Celtic Winners were able to breed with him after his death and his first son was greeted with great delight - even though he was the "ugliest duckling" you could possibly imagine! This colt had the longest donkey ears placed on the longest and most ungainly looking head and nobody could even begin to imagine what this ugly little beast would turn into!

In a cruel twist of fate, this little colt was orphaned at just two weeks of age, along with a little filly by Celtic Gold and the job at hand was to try and save the two little foals lives - a task the Vets in Australia did not hold much hope of happening - but they did not take into account the powerful determination of the two women who bred these foals and after spending four days and nights in the box with them, the two finally started to drink warm molasses water and from there on it was forward all the way.

In late 2003 both the colt, now gelded and the filly arrived in Ireland as four year olds where Celtic Winners had moved their competition base and on their arrival a young lady who had loved Holy Diamond in Ireland, when she was a young teenager, fell for the young gelding and a partnership was formed! Mary Ann Casey and MyCeltic Tiger began to work together and it was in early May that Mary Ann hinted that she would "love to take MyCeltic Tiger to Dublin" a suggestion which was greeted with great excitement and so the work began to turn a handsome youngster into a show horse!

On a sunny Saturday in June this year, Mary Ann and MyCeltic Tiger headed off to Goff's in County Kildare to compete in the Large Riding Horse class at the Riding Club Festival which is considered one of the three largest shows in the country and a "hit out" before Dublin - many are so bold as to suggest that those who do well at this show generally are the ones in the main lineup at Dublin Horse Show.

The Large Riding Horse class is judged on conformation, manners, trainability,paces and rideability. After being ridden by their riders, the Judges ride the horses as well as the horses being stripped down for a conformation inspection - at Dublin they are also expected to gallop en masse in the arena - all quite an experience for a 5 year old who has traveled all the way from Australia to a lifestyle so different to the one he knew at home - even down to the fact that this youngster was two years old before he experienced his first thunder storm with driving rain as he was born and bred in a country in drought!

To the delight of all the supporters who had come to watch Mary Ann Casey compete with Australian bred Irish Sport Horse, MyCeltic Tiger, the judges announced him as the winner of the class thus confirming that in true "fairytale" style - the ugly duckling had become the most handsome of horses!

Mary Ann, a regular in the Dublin Showring, has done a superb job of preparing and producing the youngster and although he is born and bred in Australia he is very much an Irish horse with the wonderful brains these horses are famous for worldwide.

If you are at Dublin Horse Show in August you will find MyCeltic Tiger easy to recognise - he is the handsome horse who is branded with the 'Celtic Winners' diamond in honour of his father Holy Diamond and everyone has their fingers and toes crossed for an excellent result!