Dothraki Warlord shakes off the spooks to win in Wellington
The closing class of ESP Fall III in Wellington, saw a victory for Ireland’s Capt. Brian Cournane and the sizeable Dothraki Warlord, whose bravado does not always reflect his stature or the Game of Thrones’ reference. But with Halloween around the corner, the 12-year old Irish Sport Horse shelved the spooks to win.
“His name is Dothraki Warlord because he’s so tall. He’s 18 hands,” said Brian, after the pair jumped clear on the short course in a time of 41.85 to clinch the victory over 11 of their rivals in the $10,000 Stake. The Dothraki are described as ‘fierce warriors, skilled in battle, unrelenting in combat and known for savagery,’ on one fan-run Game of Thrones’ website. “Sometimes he can be a bit spooky. I mean if a mouse ran past here, he’d be looking at it,” said Brian. “It’s funny he’s not spooking at things. You know, he loves getting in there and running around as fast as he can. He was great and today he was really honest. He’s getting older, he’s getting less spooky.”
Brian, who is back in Wellington and settling in for the winter season, with his family based in Palm Beach Point, has had Dothraki Warlord for a couple of years. He wanted to make the most of the last show on the Derby field, before the action moves back to the Wellington International showgrounds next week.
“We were making best use of the field here before it goes across to the showgrounds next week. So nice to get some jumping out on the grass,” he said.
Brian has eight horses to compete on as he prepares for the Winter Equestrian Festival, due to start on January 1. “I’ve got some really nice horses,” he said. “So I’ll try to do a lot of the FEI classes here. I might head up to Ocala for a couple as well.”
Brian’s 15-year old Oldenburg gelding Armic tops his string and will be making appearances this winter. Dothraki Warlord will meanwhile be staying in his lane. “He’ll jump sort of the meter 45 classes, meter 50 classes. That’s a lot of fun. He might end up jumping some Grands Prix as well, but he’s so competitive in this type of class, I think I’ll keep him at that level,” Brian said.
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