Tag Archives: Johnny Hassett

A QUIN man undergoing break-through cancer therapy in Germany has issued an emotional ‘thank you’ to those who are helping to fund his treatment. Johnny Hassett of Ballyhannon House, who is a very popular and highly respected member of the equestrian community, received a lung cancer diagnosis in June and has been having chemotherapy under the care of a leading specialist in a German hospital in recent weeks. The 49-year-old specialises in producing ‘breeze up’ horses, who are galloped or ‘breezed’ in front of prospective buyers. Since his diagnosis, members of the sector have rallied around Johnny and raised over €250,000 through a Gofundme campaign. The fundraising drive was started by members of the The Breeze-up Consignors Association (BUCA) to help with medical bills and has resulted in a huge outpouring of goodwill in Clare and much further afield. John Cullinan of BUCA told The Champion that the figure raised to-date indicates the high regard in which the Quin man …

NECESSITY is said to be the mother of invention, and that’s certainly true during the Covid-19 crisis. With severe restrictions on movement hitting the sale of thorough-bred horses, Quin equestrian specialist Johnny Hassett has responded by moving his business on-line. The Bloodstock Connection, at Ballyhannon House, specialises in producing what are called ‘breeze up’ horses. These are generally two-year-olds, who are galloped or ‘breezed’ along a track where prospective buyers can assess them before inspecting them at the sales arena. Taking the business into the virtual world was very much a “make or break” response to the coronavirus outbreak. “We made the decision around seven weeks ago,” Mr Hassett said. “It has gone well in that we’ve sold some horses, but the really big benefit has been to raise our profile and keep our names out there. As a breeze up company, we had doubled up on horses, twice as many horses and upped the calibre significantly and the spend, …

A SPOTLIGHT will be shone on Quin on RTÉ One this Sunday (8.30pm), as John and Francis Brennan and the At Your Service team come to Ballyhannon House Riding School and Trekking Centre  to work their magic. In the first episode of a new series of At Your Service, the Brennan brothers, who own and run the five-star Park Hotel in Kenmare, will visit Johnny Hassett’s riding school. The day they were previewing the riding school for the show, Johnny said it was just after the storms had hit and a lot of damage had been caused, so he felt this went in his favour to secure the Brennan’s help. “I twigged that the worse it was, the more they liked it,” he said. He said the reason for wanting to go on the show was to help raise the profile of Ballyhannon House but also there were some serious issues he felt needed to be addressed and he hoped …