King of Diamonds

Described in ’The Irish Draught Horse’ by Alex Fell as ’the single best known Irish Draught of modern times {he} has been described as the saviour of the Irish Draught as a breed, as a result of his prepotent jumping ability’. King of Diamonds is ranked 21st in the World Breeding Rankings for the period 1992 - 2001 on the basis of 19 of his progeny, including Rodrigo Pessoa’s Special Envoy, John Ledingham’s Millstreet Ruby, and Joe Fargis’ Mill Pearl

Technically neither King of Diamonds nor his great rival for the ’King of the Irish Jumping Sires’ title, Clover Hill were pure bred Irish Draught horses. They were approved because they were Irish Draught in type, with partial pedigree, raising the question as to whether the Irish Draught is in reality a breed or is it a type?

King of Diamonds dominates the Irish Studbook. He has more than forty stallion sons or grandsons, bred either directly in the sire line or through his daughters although some experts argue that the inspectors were a bit overwhelmed by King of Diamonds’ reputation, and perhaps a little lax in some they passed.

King of Diamonds was by Errigal a son of Silvermines, which was the Irish Draught side of his parentage. His dam Ruby was by True Boy, a halfbred sire who traces to Kildare, a well known Irish Draught stallion at the beginning of the century. The grand dam was the Thoroughbred mare Biddens. King of Diamonds was a jumper in his own right, but he achieved his Grade A status in an era when Irish jumping tracks were not so demanding.

King of Diamonds was bred at Slyguff Stud in Co Carlow by Tom O’Neill. Slyguff is a stud which has built its reputation over the years with the jumping successes of its stallions. The importance of tradition in Irish breeding is underlined by the fact that the O’Neills bred not just King of Diamonds but his dam, Ruby. The sire of his dam, True Boy, was bred by their cousin Jack O’Neill of Whitemount, Kells, Co. Kilkenny from an old point to point mare.

When King of Diamonds died in 1991 at the age of 29 he had eleven stallion sons on the Irish Horse Register and two grandsons. Four years later his descendant stallions numbered over forty. According to the excellent work - King of Diamonds - An Irish Showjumping Dynasty - which can be purchased and down loaded over the net No single sire produces a constant stream of top performers, indeed the best in the world produce only a handful, and King of Diamonds was no exception. Some of his progeny have been mediocre, but the record indisputably shows that King of Diamonds has made a specific contribution to thousands of highly acceptable riding and showjumping horses. Irish breeding would have been much the poorer without him.

His total personal registered progeny at the time ofhis death in 1992 was 547, The registered progeny of his stallion sons, to say nothing at all of his daughter’s descendants, expands his influence numerically to thousands.