Sam Griffiths and Paulank Brockagh at Badminton in 2014. Photo courtesy of Nico Morgan Photography.
Dinah Posford‘s Paulank Brockagh, the 17-year-old Irish Sport Horse mare with whom Australia’s Sam Griffiths won Badminton Horse Trials in 2014, has returned to breeder Paula Cullen‘s Co. Wicklow yard to begin her retirement.
“Dinah’s had horses with me for 20 years now and she’s a proper owner,” says Sam. “She does everything for the love of the horse and never wants to push them. The most important thing for her is that they come home safe. Brocks was starting to feel her age, she had a lot of miles on the clock and she didn’t owe anyone anything. She still looks a treat, so although I was upset to see her leaving I’m really pleased that a horse of her calibre finishes her career happy and sound.”
Owner Dinah continues, “at the end of day she’s retiring fit and healthy, and she deserves it. I think it would have been tempting fate to do any more – I couldn’t bear the thought of something happening to her.”
The decision comes after the ongoing pandemic shelved the team’s original plans to aim for a final major run, whether at Badminton or at the Tokyo Olympics. She had been campaigned in 2019 with this aim in mind, with a trip to Luhmühlen — where she finished 7th — taking precedence over a more taxing run around the site of her 2014 victory.
“It would have been her seventh time [at Badminton if she had run this year], and it would have been great to produce another good result and then retire her on the last day,” says Sam.
Sam Griffiths and Paulank Brockagh at Luhmühlen. Photo by Tilly Berendt.
But wrapping her illustrious career up on a top ten finish isn’t too shabby, and nor are the memories that Sam, Dinah and the rest of the Griffiths Eventing Team have collected over the decade that the mare has been in situ at Symphony Farm.
Her first major competition with Sam in the irons was the Seven-Year-Old World Championships at Le Lion d’Angers in 2010, in which she finished eighth. She had previously been campaigned by Irish rider Heidi Hamilton, and by Joseph Murphy and Daryll Walker prior to Heidi. Less than a year after taking the reins, Sam contested the London Olympics test event with ‘Brocks’, finishing 20th and setting the stage for a successful step up to four star that autumn. The following year, she finished fifth in her second CCI4*-L at Bramham, proving her toughness early on. But not everyone was quite so impressed with the mare.
“When [Chris Burton] visited one time I told him, ‘you have to sit on this mare – I think she might be my next Badminton horse’,” recalls Sam. “But he didn’t think too much of her that day. He fell in love with her a few years later though!”
2013 would see Brocks step up to five-star with clear rounds at both Badminton and Burghley, though her dressage scores kept her out of the top placings at both. The next spring was to provide a very different challenge, however, with extraordinarily challenging weather conditions and a particularly tough track by Guiseppe della Chiesa combining to create one of the most difficult Badmintons in recent memory.
Sam Griffiths and Paulank Brockagh. Photo courtesy of Nico Morgan Photography.
A first-phase score of 46.3 (30.8 in new scoring) put them on the back foot early on, and Sam and Brocks headed into Saturday’s competition in 25th place. But it certainly wouldn’t be a dressage competition — an endless deluge created bottomless going while gale-force winds sent Portaloos flying, and just 32 of the 78 starters would make it through this phase. As Sunday dawned, Brocks sat in a competitive fifth place — and just one rail down on a day that saw only a single showjumping clear would clinch this first five-star victory for Sam.
Sam Griffiths (AUS) and Paulank Brockagh. Photo by Leslie Wylie.
That win, plus top ten finishes at both Badminton and Burghley in 2015, put the pair firmly in the eyeline of Team Australia’s selectors and in 2016, they headed to the Rio Olympics. They finished fourth individually as part of the bronze-medal-winning team and followed their efforts up with three gentle seasons, each focused on a successful five-star run. Top ten finishes at both Pau and Luhmühlen would be amongst their post-Rio accomplishments.
“I’ve never ridden a horse that would try so hard,” says Sam of Brocks’ competitive consistency. “She was a naturally good jumper, needed some training on the flat but an incredible cross-country horse. I really felt that I could point her at a house and she’d try to jump it! She would give you so much confidence, she wasn’t the quickest but where she came to the fore was at 5-star level. She had such endurance, she could just keep going and keep trying, especially on the last day – she’d still give it everything she had.”
Sam Griffiths gives Paulank Brockagh a bit of fuss at Luhmühlen in 2019. Photo by Tilly Berendt.
The Irish-bred mare (Touchdown x Calendar Girl, by Trigerrero), who Dinah and Paula describe variously as ‘impetuous’ and ‘opinionated’, may well have offspring of her own now.
“When we sold her in 2010 I said to Dinah that if she ever bred from her I’d love to have first refusal on the foal,” says breeder Paula. “So when I got the call to ask if I’d like to retire her here I couldn’t hold back the tears!”
Happy retirement, Brocks — and Dinah, do please consider adding us to that waiting list.
