SOME 64 international show jumping athletes from 12 countries will descend on the capital city next week for the 150th five-star Dublin Horse Show when, for the second year, the Rolex Grand Prix of Dublin will offer a prize fund of €500,000 while Friday’s Aga Khan Nations Cup remains the pinnacle competition for the Irish public.

The newly crowned European champion Richard Vogel is among the headline entries but sadly we won’t see his superstar stallion United Touch S in Dublin. As reported last week, the German’s initial plan was to come to Dublin but they have decided to skip the show and give the gold medal winner a rest.

Alongside the German team, also lining out in Friday’s Nations Cup is Ireland, Britain, Mexico, The Netherlands, Switzerland, last year’s winners the USA and Canada, who have not competed at the show for 35 years.

USA all the way

Three of that American winning team are coming back to defend their title – McLain Ward, Lucy Davis Kennedy and Aaron Vale while the fifth squad member 12 months ago, Laura Kraut, who is a Dublin regular at this stage, is also on the squad alongside Alex Matz. I remember being surprised that the 2024 victory was Ward’s first win in the Aga Khan, giveb the USA’s decent record.

Team USA will arrive in Dublin with form following an emphatic victory at CHIO Aachen where Kraut and Ward were on the team, plus they have fresher legs after not partaking in the FEI European Championships two weeks’ ago.

McLain Ward of USA, on Callas, celebrates after winning the Aga Khan Trophy at the 2024 Dublin Horse Show \ David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile

Also fresh and making a welcome appearance for the first time in 35 years is Team Canada, led by the in formidable Ian ‘Captain Canada’ Millar who will be giving master classes in the Main Arena on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Millar’s daughter Amy is part of the squad which also includes Mario Deslauriers, Kimberley Martens Winsingh, Kyle Timm and Nicole Walker who is coached by Ireland’s Cian O’Connor and Gerry Mullins.

Britain arrive in Dublin off the back of a team silver medal at the European Championships in A Coruña where one of their heroes of the week was Donald Whitaker who brings his gorgeous medal-winning grey mare Millfield Colette. So many fell in love with the mare for the incredible heart she showed over five rounds to finish 10th individually at the Europeans.

Di Lampard takes 10 athletes in total but joining Whitaker on the squad of five for the team competition is Tim Gredley who has Medoc de Toxandria back in his care after a stint with Matt Sampson, Joseph Stockdale, Adrian Whiteway and Georgia Tame who rides for Irishman Shane Breen at Hickstead.

Appearing as an individual for the Puissance competition is the newly crowned European champion Rachel Proudley, who also rides for an Irishman at Richard Howley’s HK Horses. Proudley’s last appearance on Irish soil saw her win the CSI2* Grand Prix at Mullingar International.

The Swiss were winners of the Aga Khan in 2023 and Martin Fuchs was part of that team. He returns as the Grand Prix title defender and perhaps will spend a few days at the Stepaside stable of his groom Sean Vard once again.

He is joined on the team by Bryan Balsiger, Dominik Fuhrer, Puis Schwizer and Jason Smith, but the Swiss are searching for form after a mixed season including disappointment at the European Championships.

The remaining teams are Mexico – who could forget their win in 2018 – and The Netherlands, while the home nation are bidding for their first win since 2022 after two runner-up finishes in recent years.

Blake’s men

Michael Blake’s Irish squad has been in rich form this season with multiple podiums and a five-star win in La Baule and Abu Dhabi. There will be a slight air of disappointment after a fourth place finish at the European Championships and Blake is sending three of that European team to Dublin as part of his squad.

What an occasion it will be for the young guns on the squad – 22-year-old Seamus Hughes Kennedy and Tom Wachman (20) – who are both in line to make their Aga Khan debut. Hughes Kennedy looks nailed on to ride the Ennisnag Stud-bred ESI Rocky after five phenomenal clear rounds (with one time fault) at the Europeans. Should he get the start, Tom will be following in the footsteps of his older brother Max and hopes it will be a winning debut like his was three years ago. Both Seamus and Tom were part of the winning team in La Baule earlier this season and Tom won team silver at the Young Rider European Championships.

Also looking to be nailed on is Darragh Kenny who fought back after an opening day mistake in A Coruña to finish seventh with four clear rounds aboard Eddy Blue who looks so full of jumping and energy on the final day of that championship.

Also on the Irish team in Spain was Denis Lynch and he is named on Blake’s squad with the big jumping stallion Vistogrand, while the final member is Aga Khan regular Cian O’Connor who has won the competition four times in an incredible 18 appearances.

Tom Wachman on Tabasco de Toxandria Z competing for Ireland in the Longines League of Nations at Rotterdam \ FEI/Leanjo de Koster

Breen’s comeback

There are a couple of Irish riders who will feel slightly hard done by not making the team and such is competition for places that makes the manager’s job such a difficult one.

One of those riders will be Trevor Breen who has jumped three double clears in the five-star Nations Cups at Falsterbo, St Gallen and Abu Dhabi this year aboard the home-bred gelding Highland President and, according to EquiRatings, he is the only horse to have done so at 5* level. 12 months ago, Trevor was watching Dublin from home after a serious back injury so he will take pride from returning to the Ballsbridge venue again where he finished fifth in the Grand Prix in 2023.

Daniel Coyle wowed the crowds in Paris last year with his performance aboard Ariel Grange’s 15-year-old mare Legacy and did the same on the opening day of the Europeans two weeks’ ago but decided to retire after that and save her for another day.

Maybe he thought that day would be Friday at Dublin but he will have to aim for the Grand Prix instead, while he also has the big jumping grey gelding Incredible in his string coming to Dublin. Daniel will be accompanied by his brother Jordan who is also in good form. The duo were utterly dominant at Spruce Meadows last month and Jordan is fresh off a third-place finish in the CSIO5* Grand Prix at Hickstead last weekend.

Trevor Breen and Highland President tackle the water jump on the way to the Irish team win in the opening leg of the Longines League of Nations in Abu Dhabi \ FEI

Commdt Geoff Curran represents the Army Equitation School in the five-star classes, while the two athletes to make it through from the Plusvital Premier Series are Susan Fitzpatrick and Cathal Daniels. That competition came down to the wire at the leg in Tattersalls last weekend.

Young Rider Niamh McEvoy was part of the silver-medal winning Young Rider team at Riesenbeck last month and she has also been given an international place in Ballsbridge while she will also be busy in the young horse jumping classes with eight to compete as the head rider at Ballypatrick Stables. Five-star and senior European medal winning event rider Cathal Daniels will make his international debut at this level.

Grand Prix

Last year’s Grand Prix winning combination of Martin Fuchs and Conner Jei return to the fold but, after a disappointing performance at the Europeans, look to have form to find if they are to defend their crown. Fuchs won the Aachen Grand Prix just a few weeks’ ago aboard his unicorn-like gelding Leone Jei.

Other former Grand Prix winners include Bertram Allen who was impressive, despite a couple of rails down, with the nine-year-old gelding Qonquest de Rigo at the Europeans, while it is great to see the Irish Sport Horse Pacino Amiro on the entry list after a period of time out with an injury. McLain Ward won the Dublin Grand Prix in 2010 and could never be ruled out of the running. Laura Kraut has some catching up to do if she wants to catch her partner Nick Skelton who has won the class a remarkable five times.

The last Irish winner was Shane Breen in 2019, could his brother Trevor be the next? Last year I tipped Mark McAuley and GRS Lady Amaro for the Grand Prix and the pair ended up second on the podium. As a good omen, I better do the same again so this year I am going in the direction of Shane Sweetnam with the 12-year-old Irish Sport Horse James Kann Cruz.

The pair came close in 2022 when third on the podium and Sweetnam has never won the class. While their form hasn’t been as good as it can be, their legs will be fresh and no better place to rise to the occasion than on home soil for both horse and rider.