KATE Dwyer (36) made more history for Irish dressage last Saturday when winning the CDI5* Grand Prix Special at the Commercial Bank CHI Al Shaqab in Doha, Qatar, becoming the first Irish rider ever to do so.

Part of that historic all-female team who qualified for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games at the FEI European Championships, Dwyer rode her own and her mother Maureen’s 14-year-old part-Shire gelding Snowdon Faberge to victory in the last, scoring a personal best of 70.04%.

Last to go in the six-horse class, the combination received scores of seven or above for every movement in their test to break the 70% barrier which has been “elusive” for the pair in the non-Freestyle tests.

“I am a little bit in shock but so happy. I just felt today I really had him with me in that ride, he was taking me every step of the way. When I came up that last centre line I was like ‘oh my goodness, this is what it feels like’!” a delighted Kate told The Irish Field afterwards.

“Although he doesn’t have the biggest extended trot, it is nice, rhythmical, and harmonious, and the passage is quite good and regular so it shows off the strength.”

Dwyer choose to perform the Grand Prix Special ahead of the Freestyle to Music in Doha to get practise in should she be selected for this summer’s Olympic Games.

“I haven’t done very many Specials and that is also why I choose to do it. With the way the Olympics is going but also because it is just something that I need to practice more. I love the Freestyle but I just wanted to have that technical score so I am delighted,” she said.

“I really enjoy that test, I think it flows lovely. It works for me and Fabio… it works for the plough horse!”

She was overcome with emotion when exiting the arena and seeing her mum Maureen, who was also in floods of tears, and her partner, Alan O’Connor. Hearing Amhrán na bhFiann play around the stadium was a proud moment.

“There was tears in my eyes. It is so lovely to hear it, and it’s not that often you hear it, so I am delighted and really proud… proud for Ireland. When I looked back and saw my mark I just couldn’t stop the tears, I just couldn’t believe it.”

Part-bred Shire

Speaking about the almost 18hh gelding ‘Fabio’, by Foxcourt Fabelhaft out of Snowdon Daisy, who has been in Dwyer’s yard since he was a four-year-old when she bought him to help a friend out, she said: “He is the most trainable horse I have ever had. He tries his best at everything.

“I thought he was part-Welsh cob. He was bred in Wales, hence the name, and the breeders got in touch after Rotterdam to let us know that on his mum’s side, he is actually about one-eighth Shire.”

Dwyer and Fabio have arrived back to Ireland following the trip to Qatar and will make a plan with Irish team trainer Johann Hinnemann with the focus on earning that Olympic selection.

A day earlier, the pair scored 68.32% to finish 10th from 17 in the Grand Prix, two places ahead of compatriot Dane Rawlins and Espoire who slotted into 12th after a personal best of 67.34%.

Rawlins and his home-bred 11-year-old gelding, by Ehrenmann, opted to do the Freestyle to Music on Saturday, where they finished ninth on 70.92%.

“It’s coming. I was really pleased, he is starting to be solid. He is starting to get there; be easy, less flustered about it. I think at the moment that is a good mark for him,” he said afterwards, adding that the Al Shaqab facility “must be the best in the world”.