BEHIND every great woman there’s a great man. In the case of Ireland’s top event rider Sarah Ennis, the man in the background is her husband, Niki Potterton.

The owner of many of Sarah’s top horses, both past and present, Niki took some time out this week to talk about how he got involved in horses and what life is like living and working at Stellor Sport Horses in Dunboyne, Co Meath.

“I rode as a child but gave up when I was about 15 when all I was interested in was motor racing. A few years later, sailing took over as my main hobby and it was through this that I first met Sarah,” Potterton explained.

“Alongside horses, sailing has always been a passion of Sarah’s and one evening about 17 years ago, I was having a post racing drink in Howth yacht club when she walked in. I didn’t waste any time and asked her out for tea straight away.

“I had told her that I used to ride and after a few dates she asked me would I like to go out hacking with her over the hill of Howth.

“I rode her favourite horse at the time, GI Gold Rush, and it wasn’t long before we made a plan to take two of her horses and go out hunting together. A couple of years later, she bought me a hunter for Christmas and I haven’t looked back since.

“I’m an electrician and have my own business. I’m very fortunate that I have a great guy working with me so in the winter I can get out hunting with the Meaths two or three times a week. We specialise in marine electronics for yachts so my busiest time is in the summer, so it works well with the eventing season.

“When we got married in 2005, we set up in my family’s home place in Dunboyne. My parents, Hilda and David, were very generous and let us take over half of the family farm.

“We did most of the work ourselves. Anything we couldn’t manage we would get someone in to do but we didn’t have a lot of money to spend so a lot of the time it was just us. I had to re-roof a lot of the buildings and convert them into stables.

"The way it worked was as soon as I’d finished a stable, Sarah would put a horse in it! When we got to 19 stables I realised I’d have to stop at that because it was the only way to slow her down!”

Talented horses

“We are lucky to have so many talented horses in the yard and fortunate to own several of them ourselves.

“Sligo Candy Cane is a seven-year-old gelding by Sligo Candy Boy. Sarah was chatting to Francis Derwin at a show one day and told him the type of horse she was looking for. He told her he had one at the moment that he thought would suit.

“When she came home and told me, I said that we better get down to Athlone quick before Francis sold it. Sarah was busy the next day so I set off early and was in Derwins at 8am.

“The horse had a little bit of a virus at the time but Francis kindly held on to him for a month while he recovered. When he was better, myself and our vet Marcus Swail went back to vet him.

“Marcus always likes to see them ridden for the vetting. Now, at the time I hadn’t ridden in a month, and the horse hadn’t been sat on in as long, so it made for interesting viewing, but we got through it and brought him home.

“It was worth it because he has worked out really well. Out of the eight events he has done, he produced eight double clears, with three wins, two seconds, a third, a fifth and an eighth placing. Two highlights of last year were becoming national EI100 champion and also winning the Michael Leonard five and six-year-old class at Ballindenisk International.

“The plan was to aim him at the Young Horse World Championships in Le Lion d’Angers but with all that’s going on, we will have to wait and see what more he gets to do this year, but we are really excited to watch him progress.

“Stellor Candy Boy is a horse we liked the look of when we saw him on Facebook about a month ago. Once again he’s by Sligo Candy Boy, he was bred by Jim Tempany in Sligo. Stephen Howley found him at Cavan Sales and broke him in; he’s another exciting prospect for us.

“Mr Firefly is an eight-year-old gelding by Orestus. He was owned by my good friend Rebecca Doherty and was campaigned on the show jumping circuit by Daryl Walker until 2018 when we purchased him and he began his eventing career.

“Stellor Quick Change is a home-bred by Olympic Lux out of our mare Not So Holy. He began eventing as a five-year-old and was rarely out of the placings. Last year he moved up to two-star level and we are delighted with how he is progressing.

“We have had many great days in the sport thanks to some fantastic horses and their owners.

Rocket by name and nature

“Sarah’s late mother Orla was the first and the most important owner she has ever had. Without her support and help we would not be where we are today.

“One example of this is Horseware Stellor Rebound, a gelding that needs no introduction. Rocket by name, and rocket by nature. Currently boasting 969 eventing points, he has been with Sarah since she bought him from Irene Lawlor.

“When he was a youngster we thought we would have to sell him. He had done very well in the young event horse classes in the RDS and we were getting very tempting offers of a lot of money for him.

“At the time we felt that, for the sake of the business, we couldn’t afford to keep him. It was at this point Orla stepped in and said, ‘you need to keep this horse’. She invested in him so we didn’t have to sell and this turned out to be one of the most important decisions of Sarah’s career.

“It was thanks to her that Sarah and Rocket have been able to go on compete in several international events, European Championships and World Equestrian Games and come home with top placings, including the highlight of their career together – a fifth place individually and a team silver medal at the 2018 World Equestrian Games in Tryon, which saw team Ireland earn a place at the 2020 Olympic Games.

“BLM Diamond Deluxe or Murphy, as he is known at home, is another top horse in our yard. Sarah started competing him as a five-year-old in 2008 and he went all the way to five-star, competing at both Badminton and Burghley very successfully.

“In recent years, as he has got older, we have begun to compete more and more in the show jumping arena where he has excelled, competing in several Grand Prix competitions around the country.

“Murphy is 16 this year and is still loving life. The plan now is that the latest addition to the Stellor team, our new head girl Emily Singleton, will compete him in the show jumping ring.

“Slotting in amongst all these talented eventers are my two hunters. One advantage of them being included in the Stellor string is that I can rock up at the last minute and they are ready to go.

“I don’t even have to worry about their fitness because if I’m busy working and haven’t time to ride them they get included in the yard’s exercise regime which is fantastic for me!”

NEXT WEEK: Part II of the Stellor Sport Horses owner column.