KINSALE native Alice Copithorne has been making a name for herself, not only as a five-star event rider in recent years, but also as a producer of Traditional Irish Horses for the show ring and sport. Last year, she jumped clear cross-country at both Lumuhlen and Pau with Fort Arthur Little Dolly (West Coast Cavalier x Kasmayo) to secure two CCI5* completions, as well as winning the traditional Irish-bred working hunter class at the Dublin Horse Show with Margaret Walsh’s then five-year-old mare Kilkeany Breeze (Munther x Coolcorran Cool Diamond).

“Kilkeany Breeze was bred by her owners, Margaret and Jacqueline Walsh, and I had her for them first in the winter,” says Alice. “I hunted her a few days then, and when she came back to me last year it was all about gearing up for Dublin. She was sold afterwards; she’s gone up north to a lady doing side saddle. I’ve never sold a horse directly out of Dublin, though having competed there looks great on their record. Especially for young horses, even if they don’t get placed or anything, having videos of them riding in that atmosphere is always very good to sell a horse.”

Fort Arthur Little Dolly also competed at Dublin, albeit in a different capacity. “In 2019 I did the hunt chase with Dolly. She had just missed out on qualifying for the young event horse class by 0.1, when I got a call from (RDS show director) Fiona Sheridan about reformatting the hunt chase. What they did was they paired two event riders with two pony club games riders, and the games riders went out first and did their thing. Then we had to do a round of jumping, and the teams were jumping off head-to-head. It probably wasn’t great for her head, but our team didn’t get beyond the second round anyway and it was nice to be a part of the bow out of the hunt chase.”

“Champion!” Alice Copithorne, with two of her co-judges: her father Philip and John Corbett, selects their supreme champion at the IDHS national show \ Susan Finnerty

Pony Club debut

Alice first competed at the Dublin Horse Show over a decade ago, in the recently discontinued pony club members’ combined training class. “It was on a homebred called Fort Arthur Queen Bee. She was a Burke’s Son mare going back to Holycross, out of one of Dad’s hunters. She had already competed in Dublin with my sister Grace in the same class, when she placed third, but with me she didn’t do any good! My other sister Adrienne competed that year too, in the intermediate section with Fort Arthur Heart of Gold.

“The combined training class was a great platform for pony club riders to compete at Dublin. It gave them a chance, especially for the riders not into showing, and it was a great way for the Horse Show to showcase the Irish Pony Club and show how many of the top riders started their careers within it. I wouldn’t have started eventing if it wasn’t for the pony club, and Paddy Whelan and Cathal Daniels, two of Ireland’s top event riders, competed in that class the same year as me. In previous years, that class would have had the likes of Camilla Speirs in it, and it’s disappointing to think that it’s been stopped when it’s where so many riders have started off. I think they should look for another way of keeping the pony club involved in the Horse Show, because it gives young riders great exposure.”

A Covid victory

Alice’s victory with Kilkeany Breeze last year was technically her first win at the Horse Show, but in the Covid year of 2021 she won the five-year-old Young Event Horse Final at what was dubbed the RDS National Equestrian Championships, held in Lambertstown, Co Meath. Her ride then was Onceuponatime (Barely A Moment x Maltstriker), bred and owned by Deidre Connolly, but the story of their win starts years earlier, as Alice first rode an 11.2hh pony in lead-rein classes for Connolly.

In 2018, Alice rode Onceuponatime’s half-sister Fairytale (by Robin de la Maison) into second place in the four-year-old working hunter at the Horse Show. They returned the following year to take sixth in the workers and contest the five-year-old Young Event Horse Final, and they eventually went on to be selected for the World Breeding Championships at Lion D’Angers the same year that Alice won in Lambertstown with Onceuponatime.

“I had three for the qualifiers that year [2021],” says Alice, “and all three of them qualified. The final suited the horses better being up in Lambertstown. It was a very nice track, in and out of trees, and there was less crowds and less noise than there would have been at the Horse Show. The atmosphere in Dublin, I don’t know if she would have handled it as well. I knew Ciara Power’s horse was the one to beat, but Onceuponatime went beautifully.

“During the Covid years it was difficult producing young horses,” she continues. “It did give horses lots of time though, and these horses were all five-year-olds. As four-year-olds, there was nothing on for them other than the Stepping Stones Series in Wexford. We went up to that, and then there was nothing else for them to do. Eventing only started again when they were five, so it was great in one sense in that the young ones had loads of time to develop.”

Alice Copithorne winning the five-year-old Young Event Horse Final at the RDS National Equestrian Championships at Lambertstown in 2021

Irish breeding

A slower start to her competitive career certainly seems to have been to the benefit of Onceuponatime, and as a 10-year-old she has now run twice at CCI4*-S level with Olympian Sarah Ennis as well as winning an EI115 (Advanced) at Tyrella in the spring. The same can be said for both Reenmore Reilly (OBOS Quality x Harlequin du Carel), on whom Alice was third in the four-year-old class in 2019, and Fort Arthur Buddy (Craigsteel x Glenlara), with whom she was fifth at that Lambertstown final in 2021. The latter pair were sold to America and have each gone on to build up lengthy records with the United States Eventing Association.

The majority of these horses with whom Alice has enjoyed success in Dublin, not to mention her five-star horse Dolly, boast at least 50% thoroughbred blood in the traditional model of Irish breeding, and Alice is circumspect about the replacement of the Breeders’ Championship with a foal auction in partnership with Goffs. “I have discussed this with Dad [Philip], who has judged lots of qualifiers for the Breeders’ Championship over the years. He said it’s often the same mares coming back again and again, and there wasn’t a huge pool to pick from. The same people were going to all the qualifiers, and even if their stock weren’t top quality, they were still qualifying.”

“But then I was chatting to others about it, and they were saying what’s going to happen now with big show jumping names in a foal auction is that there’ll be imported dams and imported sires and it won’t be promoting the Traditional Irish Horse in the same way the Breeders’ Championship did. When it was on, there were always lots of people round the ring and a lot of interest in the class.”

TIH WH horse winner Alice Copithorne with Elegant Emilia at the Scarteen YES RDS Qualifier 2026 \ Tadhg Ryan Bit Media

Looking forward

At the time of writing, Alice is gearing up for the 2026 Young Event Horse Series and Dublin qualifiers, and horses she mentions to watch out for include AOD Achilles (Future Trend x Ghareeb) and her partner Jamie Byrnes’ Traditional Irish Horse Castleview Lady Cruise (Oldtown KC x Duke of Marmalade) as ones to watch. Another horse with over 50% thoroughbred blood, whose lineage can be traced back to Crusing, Clover Hill and Ballinvella, Castleview Lady Cruise has run twice under Eventing Ireland rules and been third on both occasions.

The newly introduced working hunter qualifiers have already proved successful for Alice, and she will return to Dublin to defend her title in the traditional Irish-bred working hunter class. This time her ride will be Marian Slattery’s homebred five-year-old mare Elegant Emilia (Young Carrabawn x Kings Master), with whom Alice won the qualifier at Scarteen. Beyond Dublin, her sights are set firmly on Burghley, where she will be aiming for a third CCI5* completion with Fort Arthur Little Dolly.

Alice has since successfully qualified both AOD Achilles and Castleview Lady Cruise for the five-year-old young event horse class at Dublin, after a third place at Scarteen and a win at Forth Mountain respectively. She will also ride Elegant Emilia in the Traditional Irish Horse working hunter, and Kipling in the side saddle class.

This article is taken from The Irish Field’s Dublin Horse Show Magazine 2026. Order your copy HERE