TWO Irish riders Tim Bourke and Aidan Keogh will compete at next week’s Rolex Kentucky (April 27th - 30th), the first four-star of 2017, where German ace Michael Jung will bid for a hat-trick in the $370,000 event.

It will be a fourth Lexington appearance for Virgina-based Bourke and Luckaun Quality, while Keogh and Master Tredstep make their debut at what is currently the only four-star event in North America.

Bourke, originally from Westport, was awarded the Bank One Trophy, presented to the highest-placed owner-rider, after finishing 11th last year with his OBOS Quality gelding. This was the best Rolex result for the pair, which also completed Burghley in 2015.

It will be Master Tredstep’s second four-star run after Pau in 2013. A routine scan at the end of that season has seen the 15-year-old on the sidelines since.

“He wasn’t lame but it’s taken two years to come back. We had Lexington in our sights so we had a quiet year last year leading up it, then it was full throttle at Ballindenisk. He’s worth the wait,” said Aidan Keogh, speaking to The Irish Field this week.

Keogh credits the Kings Master 15-year-old, bred in Coolkenno by George Mernagh, as his ‘comeback horse’, after eventing took a back seat while he built up his successful Tredstep clothing business.

Master Tredstep is owned by Carlingford Horses’ Paddy Hughes, who, along with Aidan’s wife Dr Christine Carey and the couple’s 14-year-old twin daughters Sadie and Lilly, will travel over to watch ‘Wilson’.

Growing up at Spruce Lodge equestrian centre, Aidan credits his mother Joan and The Irish Field columnist William Micklem as his mentors.

“It’s down to William and my mother for inspiring me. William’s brother John mentioned him [Master Tredstep] to William. William rang and said ‘you’d better go see this three-year-old’. We saw him over a cross-pole and that was it.

“He is a gentleman of a horse, just a big baby with a huge heart and doesn’t like to knock a fence. He’s got such a conscience,” he said about the horse who has his first Eventing Ireland outing at Tyrella 10 years ago.

Master Tredstep travelled to Kentucky, via Amsterdam and Chicago this week, with two other Irish-bred travelling companions; High Kingdom and Ringwood Sky Boy, while Aidan flies out today.

“I’ve been over a good few times, including the 2010 World Equestrian Games, but mainly as business. Tredstep has given me the means for eventing and for that I’m very grateful. We have a very large customer base in the US and they were asking ‘When are you going to come to Rolex?’ It’s their Badminton so it’s lovely to be going.

“I’m an amateur at the end of the day. Compared to some professionals riding 12 to 15 horses a day, I’ve only got one top horse!”

He also referred to a new impetus in Irish eventing following the appointment of Sally Corscadden as Horse Sport Ireland’s High Performance Director of the senior eventing squad.

“There’s a fantastic atmosphere in Irish eventing at the moment, it really is tremendous. We’re trying to build on the positives and anything we can do to raise the profile of our sport, we will.”