THE equestrian industry has received three nominations for the 2026 Team Ireland Olympic Sport Awards, with the public now invited to cast their votes and help decide this year’s winners.

The Gallagher Dublin Horse Show and Aga Khan Trophy Centenary is nominated for the Event of the Year, sponsored by McKVR. The 2026 Show was the 100th anniversary of the Aga Khan Nations Cup, one of the most prestigious competitions in team show jumping worldwide. There was an extra memorable build up to the main event on Friday, August 7th with a special presentation to the 25 living Irish Aga Khan winners since 1926 and to British legend Nick Skelton, who has the most wins in the famous class, on a total of 11 winning teams.

The show also marked the very first event at the redeveloped Laya Arena, a €52 million project including the new Anglesea Stand, which brings the RDS Arena to a capacity of more than 20,000. The show staged the €1 million Rolex Grand Prix of Ireland, the largest individual prize fund in Irish equestrian sport and part of the elite Rolex Series.

The other events nominated in the category is the Sailing World Championships, Dún Laoghaire and Rás na mBan.

Image of the Year

Also coming from the Dublin Horse Show is Lorraine O’Sullivan’s nomination for the Image of the Year, sponsored by Fiat. Captured by the regular contributor to this paper, Lorraine’s image shows a grey horse clearing a fence, with a precision view of its hoof, studs and boots, as well as the sole of the rider’s boots.

For the second year in a row, the Irish eventing team has been nominated for the Team of The Year award, sponsored by Flo Gas.

Ireland’s senior eventing team of Aoife Clark, Austin O’Connor, Pádraig McCarthy and Ian Cassells finished fourth at the FEI World Eventing Championships in Aachen in August 2026, narrowly missing bronze and securing Ireland’s team qualification for the LA28 Olympic Games. They climbed from seventh after dressage to fourth after cross-country, and all five Irish riders finished in the top 30.

They followed this with bronze at the inaugural standalone FEI Eventing Nations Cup Final in Boekelo, finishing on 97.5 penalties. They moved from fifth after dressage to the podium after show jumping, with three Irish combinations in the individual top 20. The results marked a successful first year for Sam Griffiths as High Performance eventing manager.

The other nominees for the Team of the Year are the senior men’s hockey team and the rowing partnership of Mags Cremen and Zoe Hyde.

Voting is now open across the shortlisted categories ahead of the Olympic Sport Awards ceremony on November 28th. Voting closes on November 15th. Follow the link https://olympicsportawards.com/vote/ to vote.