IF the impressive statistics behind next week’s 144th Dublin Horse Show are anything to go by, we are all in for a truly spectacular five-day equine extravaganza at the RDS.

Our hats are off to all the riders, of all ages and levels, who earned their place at Ballsbridge as qualifying for this year’s Show was no mean feat given the strength in both numbers and quality evident at the qualifiers nationwide.

At a cost of €4.7m to stage, this year’s Show offers 132 classes and competitions, competing for a total prize fund of almost €4m.

Online tickets sales are at their highest level ever, corporate hospitality sold out well in advance of the official launch by former goverment Minister Ivan Yates a few weeks ago while entries are at their strongest level, 6% ahead of last year’s 2016 record year.

Yates hit the nail on the head when he descibed the Dublin Horse Show as “a timeless classic in both the sporting and social calendar of Ireland”.

Dublin is undoubtedly the big winner in the spin-off stakes with the Show spinning off an estimated €50m – €10m each of the five days – to the capital’s economy.

However, it is an showcase for the country’s €700m sport horse industry that next week’s Show really speaks volumes.

Like no other event, it puts the focus sharply on one of Ireland’s indigenous industries that, given the right structures, leadership and investment platforms, can only grow and contribute even further to the economy.

RDS chief executive, Michael Duffy, rightly summed it up when he said, “The success of this industry is one of the core aims of the RDS, supporting the Irish breeder and producer, providing an international platform to showcase and market the horses, they are all key elements of what the RDS and the Show is, the pinnacle for many in this €700m industry, an industry that is responsible for 13,000 jobs, direct and indirect.”

Recognised nationally and internationally for setting standards in the industry, everyone knows the value of having bred, owned, produced or exhibited a winner at Dublin Horse Show and in this special 40-page magazine, we bring you previews of young horses, broodmares, Irish Draughts, cobs, show hunters and working hunters as well as the pony showjumpers among others. This year the RDS did not make available the showing entries to our correspondents Margie McLoone and Susan Finnerty who nevertheless made herculean efforts to do justice to all exhibitors in less than ideal circumstances.

The talent we have in our sport horse industry is readily seen in the amount of top drawer wins Irish riders achieve week in week out on the global stage.

No other nation in the world has as many top riders in the Longines FEI World Top 50 Rankings as Ireland does and with Gold, Silver and Bronze medals achieved by our brilliant pony show jumpers and eventing teams in the recent European Championships in Hungary, the future looks even brighter.

This year’s Show also has a veritable treasuretrove of Masterclasses lined up to entertain the 100,000 plus visitors who will come through the gates at Ballsbridge including show jumping legends Eddie Macken and Britain’s Olympic Gold individual medal winner Nick Skelton as well as renowned eventing coach, now advisor to the Swedish Equestrian Federation Yogi Breisner and former World and European Champion event rider Lucinda Green.

In the Main Arena, all eyes will be on Ireland’s chef d’equipe Rodrigo Pessoa and the team he will select to contest his first Aga Khan trophy in his new role. We wish them every success in that national quest. Magical Aga Khan moments are rekindled in these pages by Michael Slavin and who knows, maybe 2017 will be our year. Finally, drop along to The Irish Field stand (B1) just inside the main hall entrance and enjoy a great Dublin Horse Show.