THE eventing world’s five-star season is over, Justin Burke and HSH Blake are the top breeder and horse combination in the 2026 World Breeding Federation for Sport Horses (WBFSH) rankings and the Irish Sport Horse studbook won back its WBFSH title.

The studbook also holds an unassailable lead in Hippomundo’s 2026 eventing rankings.

Much to be rightly celebrated and the Irish Sport Horse is holding its own. That said, competition in the event horse market has closed in, so let’s take an overall look at this year’s five-star event results.

Six such events were held, one less than in 2025. Maryland International, held at Elkton, was cancelled this year, nor will this autumn fixture go ahead in 2027. Maryland, North America’s second five-star event, debuted in 2021 and yielded two Irish-born winners in Ballaghmor Class (2023) and Colorado Blue (2024) in its short tenure. Felix Vogg (SUI) and Cartania won what may be its final event in 2025.

So, this leaves six five-star events worldwide.

The loss of Maryland did have some effect on the number of ISH top-10 finishers in 2026 compared to last year.

In 2025, two horses featured in the Maryland top 10: runner-up HSH Blake (Tolan R x Kannan. Breeder: Justin Burke) and 10th-placed Sunday Times (Cult Hero x Sea Crest. Paddy Joyce). Their results contributed to a final tally of 12 Irish Sport Horses recording top-10 places at five-star level in 2025.

This year, that figure has dropped to nine, although the caveat is that one less five-star event is to be counted with Maryland gone from this autumn’s calendar.

No ISH wins this year, same as in 2025, the year of four runner-up places: Cooley Rosalent (Valent x Roselier. Woods Rosbotham), Highly Suspicious (Russel x Cruising. Eamon Kenny), HSH Blake and Plot Twist B (Plot Blue x - Concorde. Etter Sportpferde AG) at Badminton, Luhmühlen, Maryland and Pau respectively.

2024 was a more vintage year, when Greenacres Special Cavalier (Cavalier Royale x Touchdown. Michael Callery) and the now-retired Ballaghmor Class (Courage II. Noel Hickey) won at Badminton and Maryland for Caroline Powell and Oliver Townend.

Round-up

Let’s start Down Under, where Adelaide, the Southern Hemisphere’s only five-star event, was won by the Barrett family’s home-bred Australian Warmblood, Sandhills Briar. We don’t see too many Irish Sport Horses feature here, nor huge entries. In fact, only 10 finishers were recorded this year, from 13 starters.

This summer’s FEI World Eventing Championships did affect numbers across the season, particularly after Aachen. However, horses still had to throw down their team place challenge and Kentucky winner Diabolo 556 and Will Coleman duly finished individual fourth and helped the US team to a bronze medal result at the world championships.

Michael Jung’s 2025 Lexington CCI5*-L winner fischerChipmunk FRH sidestepped any pre-Aachen five-star outings before their individual gold win on home ground. This year’s Badminton champion, Lordships Graffalo and Ros Canter, took individual silver.

There was only one ISH in the Badminton top 10 in May: fourth-placed Annaghmore Valoner, while at Kentucky, Brookfield Quality (OBOS Quality x Cavalier Royale. Sean Kelly) finished fifth to join HSH Blake as the two Irish-breds to finish in the top 10 there.

It’s a deep dive back to 2013 to find the previous ISH winner at Luhmühlen and an unlucky 13-year gap since Mr Cruise Control (Cruising x Broussard. Jenny McCann) and Andrew Nicholson’s win wasn’t broken in June. The win here went to the Anglo-European Studbook’s D.Day.

Like Kentucky, there were two Irish Sport Horses in the top 10 at this German five-star: Shanroe Cooley and Cooley With Ambition (Future Trend x Dow Jones Courcel. Conal Reilly).

Burghley was the best result for the Irish Sport Horse herd and also secured Justin Burke, HSH Blake and the Irish Sport Horse collective titles, as the WBFSH rankings came down to the wire in their final month.

Here, HSH Blake recorded the second of his top-three results at five-star level this year, followed by fourth-placed Hawk Eye (Beach Ball x Euro Clover. RJ Smyth), Very Dignified (Dignified van’t Zorgvliet x Ricardo Z. Deirdre Bowler) in seventh place and then Burghley specialist Cavalier Crystal (Jack of Diamonds x Cavalier Royale. Thomas Horgan) recording yet another of her top-10 results here in 10th place.

The Burghley total was one more than the ISH result at Pau in 2025, when three Irish Sport Horses were in the top 10 last year: Plot Twist B (second), third-placed Cooley Nutcracker (Tolan R x VDL Arkansas. Gary Doherty) and Dirty Old Town (Cruisings Ambassador x Puissance. Michael Byrne) in 10th. Four was the highest number of top-10 Irish Sport Horses recorded at last year’s five-star events.

Moving to this autumn, when two featured at this year’s French fixture - runner-up Its Cooley Time and sixth-placed Piltown Concorde (Royal Concorde x Errigal Flight. Breeder: Patrick Doody). The Dutch-bred Jarillo and Tim Price recorded a back-to-back double here.

Where have the 5* TIHs gone?

Overall, HSH Blake (315 points) was the saviour of the ISH team in the WBFSH rankings, just edging out longtime leader Diabolo 556 (313) to clinch the top prize. At 11, he’s one of the youngest Irish-bred eventers and should remain a star performer in future years, as the Los Angeles Olympics approach.

His two crosses of continental bloodlines - Tolan R and Kannan - are now typical of Irish-bred event horses. What degree of ‘Irishness’ a horse has is now an opinion held by the buyer, with the majority of breeders breeding for those buyers.

The prize money potential five-star horse purchasers can recoup is limited. Take Lordship Graffalo’s take-home pay this year, compared to show jumping horses (See By the numbers table). The closest match to his €183,498 is Equine America Vermento (€184,657). The Whitaker family’s home-bred is currently ranked 107th in the Hippomundo show jumping rankings.

As Justin Burke mentioned last week, it’s the prestige and good fortune of having a true five-star horse in their stable that more often fuels owners and syndicates than the prospect of huge prize money, even at five-star level.

Last year was a relatively good year for thoroughbreds and Traditional Irish Horses (TIH). Sunday Times and the late Chance Encounter were the two TIH in the top-10 five-star results of last year, there was none in 2026.

Even searching through damlines, finding TIH dams is becoming a rarity. Eventing, with its reliance on thoroughbred blood in the long-format era, has changed. Olympics and championships are now four-star level and the remaining half-dozen five-star events are now consistently won by horses with continental bloodlines.

There’s now a significant time lag to the era of TIH five-star winners, such as Bay My Hero, Mr Cruise Control, Ringwood Cockatoo and Tankers Town. Ironically, the best example of a TIH dam is now seen in show jumping, through CSF Telly Cruz, the dam of James Kann Cruz.

The scarcity of TIH bloodlines is either a concern or inconsequential to breeders, particularly to those depending on selling stock as foals.

Is it too late to preserve or to designate the TIH as a separate breed? A discussion for a future article.

Adelaide

Sandhills Briar (AWHA) 10yo g by Christian 25 (HOLST) - Sandhills Beetle (TB) by Sterling Sprite. Breeder: Craig and Prue Barrett, Sandhills). Rider: Oliver Barrett (AUS). 10 finishers. €29,464.

Highest-placed ISH: N/A.

Kentucky

Diabolo 556 (HOLST). 14yo g by Diarado (HOLST) - Roulett M (HOLST) by Aljano (HOLST). Breeder: Fritz Maschmann. Rider: Will Coleman (USA). 23 finishers. €113,043.

Highest-placed ISH: HSH Blake. 11yo by Tolan R (KWPN) - Doughiska Lass (ISH), by Kannan. Breeder: Justin Burke, Galway Bay Stud. Rider: Caroline Pamuckcu (USA). Second place. €53,913.

Badminton

Lordships Graffalo (SHB(GB)). 14yo g by Birkhof’s Grafenstolz (TRAK) - Cornish Queen (WNTR) by Rock King (TB). Breeder: Lordships Stud, Writtle College and Pennie Wallace. Rider: Ros Canter (GB). 40 finishers. €143,678.

Highest-placed ISH: Annaghmore Valoner. 14yo m by Coroner (TB) - Annaghmore Lady Valier (ISH) by Black Walter (ISH). Breeder: Sinead Healion. Rider: Harry Meade (GB). Third place. €60,057.

Luhmühlen

D.Day (AES). 12yo g by Billy Mexico (AES) - Dillus (TB), by Dilum. Breeder: Fiona Olivier. Rider: Caroline Harris (GB). 15 finishers. €50,000.

Highest-placed ISH: Shanroe Cooley. 11yo g by Dallas VDL (KWPN) - Shanroe Sapphire (ISH) by Condios (HOLST). Breeder: William Smyth. Rider: Boyd Martin (USA). Third place. €25,000.

Burghley

Chilli Knight (SHB(GB). 16yo g by Chilli Morning (BERLIN-BRAND) - Kings Gem (SHB(GB)) by Rock King (TB). Breeder: Christopher Stone. Rider: Gemma Stevens (GB). 26 finishers €139,658.

Highest-placed ISH: HSH Blake. Third place. €58,191.

Pau

Jarillo (KWPN). 12yo g by Dantos HBC (KWPN) - Florilla (KWPN) by Alicante HBC (HOLST). Breeder: R. Vriend. Rider: Tim Price (NZ). 29 finishers. €50,000.

Highest-placed ISH: Its Cooley Time. 11yo g by Quality Time TN (HOLST) - Arabella (ISH) by Heartbreaker (KWPN). Breeder: Ennisnag Stud. Rider: Bubby Upton (GB). Second place. €30,000.

THERE’S two more months of dressage and show jumping results that could yet impact Hippomundo’s final rankings for this year. However, with the eventing calendar’s six five-star events now completed, the eventing leaderboards will remain virtually unchanged, as these events carry the most clout in these prize money-based rankings.

Ros Canter and Lordships Graffalo, pictured during the cross-country phase at the MARS Badminton Horse Trials. The horse is the top earner in Hippomundo's eventing rankings \ Nigel Goddard

Five-star events are the Global Champions Tour Grands Prix and the Spruce Millions of the eventing calendar, offering the most lucrative prize money and FEI points. Even counting in the prize money from Jarillo’s back-to-back win at Pau, this was still never going to overtake Lordships Graffalo’s early lead after his Badminton win and the Dutch-bred just squeaks into 10th place (€50,416).

Between Lordships Graffalo (€183,498) and Jarillo, are Chilli Knight (€139,804), Diabolo 556 (€134,943), then HSH Blake in fourth (€117,704), Treworra (€108,192), Falco (€80,556), fischerChipmunk FRH (€64,270), the second ISH in the Hippomundo top 10: Annaghmore Valoner (€60,057) and then D.Day (€51,763) in ninth.

Hawk Eye (12th), Brookfield Quality (13th) and Its Cooley Time (15th) make it five Irish Sport Horses in the Hippomundo top 20.

The Irish Sport Horse studbook (€760,170) has guaranteed another studbook title this year, well ahead of nearest rivals: Sport Horse Breeding (GB) (€504,501) and the third-placed Holsteiner Verband (€479,690).

In the individual eventing breeders’ leaderboard, the collaboration between Lordships Stud and Pennie Wallace to produce Lordships Graffalo, has resulted in the top place, followed by Diabolo’s breeder Fritz Maschmann and then Justin Burke in third place. Sinead Healion ranks seventh and just one place outside the top 10 is Richard J Smyth (11th).

Three Irish-based stallions appear in the eventing sires top 10: Tolan R (fifth), OBOS Quality 004 (eighth) and Coroner (ninth). The other top-four places are filled by Diarado, Birkhof’s Grafenstolz, Chilli Morning and Jaguar Mail.

Still some time for the final show jumping rankings’ results, however, a quick look at the Hippomundo tables reveal that Kannan, Cornet Obolensky and Comme Il Faut are the current top-three show jumping sires.

Enjeu de Grisien’s Spruce Meadows dividend keeps the Toulon gelding ahead of the recuperating United Touch S and Albfuehrens Iashin Sitte. James Kann Cruz (€590,931) now ranks 11th and is the star performer for the Irish Sport Horse studbook, which is currently in ninth place.

The other top-10 show jumping studbooks are the Selle Français, Zangersheide, BWP, KWPN, Oldenburger Springpferd, Holsteiner, Westphalian, Hannoverian and then the third of three Belgian studbooks in the top 10: sBs.

Shane Sweetnam (eighth) is the sole Irish rider in the top-10 show jumping riders, headed by Richard Vogel, Ben Maher and Steve Guerdat. Daniel Coyle ranks in 14th place.

The Hippomundo rankings run until December 31st. See www.hippomundo.com for the latest results.