THE fifth anniversary of the Rolex Young Riders Academy took place in Fritz Tiedemann Halle, in Elmshorn, Germany, last week where Trish and David Dodd were among the attendees to remember their late son Jack, who was a participant in the 2016 programme.

Irish riders Michael G. Duffy, Matt Garrigan, Jonathan Gordon, Eoin McMahon and current programme participants Darragh Ryan and Jenny Rankin were among 32 riders to compete at the German venue, and fittingly, it was Co Clare show jumper Eoin McMahon who won the 1.45m Grand Prix on the final day.

Based at Ludger Beerbaum’s Germany yard, McMahon won a ticket to compete at five-star Rolex Geneva next month when finishing second overall in the show rankings. Mayo’s Jonathan Gordon was third overall and received an invite to the 2019 Dutch Masters in Den Bosch. The top prize of a ticket to compete at the 2019 summer rout in Spruce Meadows was Peter Clemens.