This feature first appeared in The Irish Field's Dublin Horse Show Magazine in July.

SEAMUS Hughes Kennedy turns 23 two weeks after the 2025 Dublin Horse Show. Before that, he has a live chance of making his debut in the Aga Khan Nations Cup in the main RDS arena.

Propelled into the spotlight again in recent months, Seamus is one of the most down-to-earth young men you could meet and is taking the step up to the five-star Nations Cup level all in his stride.

The 2023 young rider European Champion and the 10-year-old Irish Sport Horse gelding ESI Rocky, who was bred by his mother Clare’s cousin Andrew Hughes and who he also partnered to that European win, has had just four faults across three of the biggest, most prestigious five-shows in Europe in recent weeks.

Chef d’equipe Michael Blake has put his trust in Seamus and Rocky and they have delivered, producing a double clear in their first Nations Cup at the level in La Baule in early June to help the team win, followed by four and clear (one time fault) in a huge Longines League of Nations Cup in Rotterdam two weeks’ later.

Seamus is just back on Irish soil when talking to the Dublin Horse Show Magazine about a busy few weeks. “We always thought Rocky was a very good horse. Since he was three, he always showed a lot of promise and we thought that he could do everything. It was one thing to think it but then just brilliant to see him realise it and to step up to five-star level and jump so well,” the 22-year-old said.

Being part of last year’s Rolex Young Rider Academy allowed him to compete in the five-star classes at CHIO Geneva last December where he was clear every day. “That gave us a lot of confidence and then also put us on Michael Blake’s radar. We had a few good shows on the Sunshine Tour earlier this year and Michael had the faith in us to bring us to Rome as an individual.”

The thing is with the Irish chef d’equipe, when he gives you an opportunity, he expects you to take it. Seamus did exactly that and rode himself into more conversations. At CSIO5* Rome, Seamus and Rocky were double clear in the massive 1.60m Grand Prix to finish fourth and had proven he could deliver under pressure.

“To jump double clear in one of the most historic Grands Prix in the world was brilliant. It was an amazing grass ring and Rome is a beautiful city. After that, Michael gave us the opportunity to jump La Baule, so it stemmed from there.”

DREAM DEBUT

Making his five-star Nations Cup debut in La Baule was another big step up and again, the pair delivered with a magnificent double clear to help Ireland to victory. Was that surreal? “I suppose,” Seamus says with a half laugh, shrugging off any pressure. “We set realistic expectations. It was just great to be able to start off very strong like that and I got a lot of confidence from it. It would have given Michael confidence too in the horse. To bring him from a three-year-old young horse up that level is a great feeling.”

Blake then stuck with the same team for the third round of the Longines League of Nations in Rotterdam so Seamus and his horses stayed out in Europe. It was another stiff test and it was the young guns – Seamus and his teammate Tom Wachman – who shone brightest for Ireland. “Rotterdam is another one of those big shows with a lot of history.

“It was a tough Nations Cup, it asked a lot of questions with a lot of tall verticals and big oxers and the second half was almost built like an indoor show – everything came up quickly and it was tight together. Rocky jumped brilliantly; I made one mistake in the first round and unfortunately had one down, but to be able to go back out in the second round and prove what we could do, leave the fences up, was great.”

Seamus Hughes Kennedy and ESI Rocky (ISH) jumped two clear rounds to help Ireland win the five-star Nations Cup in La Baule

TEAM

Central to the success of recent years for Seamus are his parents, Clare Hughes and Melvyn Kennedy, who he is beyond thankful too, as well as his trainer Ger O’Neill, cousin Hugh McOwan who runs the yard and his groom Georgia Kelly.

“Ger O’Neill has always been great to us. He has given me a lot of help in bringing professionalism to the operation at home and helping get up the five-star level. He has been flying all over Europe helping people – including back home from Rome to help his daughters, Ava and Taylor, and my sister Annie to qualify for Dublin in the middle of it all.

“My mum was out with me for all three shows and my dad made it out for Rotterdam, as did my girlfriend Lexi Kilfeather so it was great to have them all around,” Seamus added.

“I have to thank Michael Blake for trusting me to represent Ireland at those shows, and of course Rocky! He was able to stand toe to toe with some of the best horses in the world and make Ireland proud.”

Seamus has produced the Stakkato Gold gelding all the way up through the grades since his purchase from nearby Ennisnag Stud. “We knew he had talent but it was just working on trying to refine it and get the rideability together so he could jump around the biggest tracks and be relaxed.

“Last year, as a nine-year-old, we were working on that and building him up. He has so much blood and character and all the quality that once you can keep it together, there is nothing he can’t jump. He’s coming on with every round, he’s getting easier all the time and now he is a joy to ride around those big tracks. He doesn’t want to knock fences and he’s as brave as a lion.

“I suppose we have grown up together,” Seamus added, “I’m 22 and he’s 10. I’ve learned an awful lot from a riding point of view with him and thanks to the help of those around us. It’s been a great journey so far.”

JOURNEY

In one way, the journey is only beginning, despite what has gone behind them. His form has jumped him into contention for the senior FEI European Championship in La Coruna, Spain in July, plus he will have to be in the conversation for the Aga Khan at the Dublin Horse Show in the first week in August.

We are speaking the morning after the horses arrived home to Kilkenny, so Seamus will have to wait for Michael Blake’s call to know his next move.

“I’m not 100% sure yet to be honest what the next move is. I’d like to think he’d be in with a chance of heading off to the Europeans, if everything stays right, touch wood, and then maybe Dublin as well but we will have to see.

“It depends on how everyone else goes too and what sort of plan Michael has. He has already given us plenty of opportunities so I’m delighted with everything we’ve done. I love the chance to try and prove ourselves again.”

If, for argument’s sake, he does make the Aga Khan squad in Dublin, he would be following in the footsteps of his aunt Marion Hughes. In a 2023 interview in The Irish Field after winning the young rider gold medals, he said he hoped to be on an Aga Khan team “sooner rather than later”.

What would that mean to him? “It’s a dream I have of course. It’s one of those things that you watch every year and to be a part of the squad would be brilliant. Imagine going clear in the Aga Khan… I’d love to be a part of those riders who’ve been able to do it, to be a part of the history books.”

Seamus Hughes Kennedy with his mother Clare Hughes and father Melvyn Kennedy \ Claire Nash

One thing that is guaranteed is his little sister Annie will jump the 128cm class in Dublin with Hes A Touch of Magic and that will be a priority on Friday evening, should she make the final in the main arena,

“That is the big thing on Friday evening for sure. Hopefully she will make it through to the final; she has an amazing pony and Annie is riding super; she has a lot more confidence than last year when she was in the final too.

“If I was able to jump the Aga Khan on Friday afternoon and then walk the course with Annie afterwards and give her a hand and try to get the main Friday job done, that would be magic.”