IRELAND’s Emily Moloney (17) is just starting to believe she is the Junior European Champion on Monday morning as she speaks to The Irish Field after returning home from the FEI European Championships in Riesenbeck, Germany with two gold medals around her neck.

Moloney produced a stunning performance over four days and, riding the 13-year-old gelding Temple Alice, owned by her father Eddie and TSI Equestrian, was one of just three combinations to jump five clear rounds to win the gold medal, ahead of teammate Tabitha Kyle (17) who won silver with GBBS International’s BP Goodfellas.

The pair were both part of Ireland’s gold medal-winning team on Thursday afternoon alongside Paddy Reape (Mr Rocky Blue) and Alice Wachman (Killarney), who finished 11th individually. The fifth squad member was Jack Kent with Castefield Kingston. The last individual Junior gold medallist for Ireland was Kate Derwin in 2019.

Emily, from Warrington Equestrian Centre in Co Kilkenny, was competing at her fourth European championship and already had a team gold from the pony championships in 2023. Last year was her debut at Junior level with Temple Alice and a seventh place individual finish spurred her on to this win.

“It’s probably only really sinking in now,” the newly crowned champion said. “He jumped amazing and was still fresh by the end of it all. The first day in the speed class we finished seventh so that left us in a good spot with a good time and set it all off to get the result we did.”

Ireland went into Thursday’s team final in the lead and, by the time Emily entered the arena, the team gold medal was secured, so the only pressure she had was for her individual chances. Once again, the combination delivered in spades and rose up to the individual silver position.

“I was lucky the other three had done so well. The team was special. To do it with your friends is really nice,” Emily explained.

Final wait

The scores at the top of the leaderboard were incredibly tight going into Saturday’s individual final. Switzerland’s Laura Andre, winner of the opening class, was out in front on a score of zero; Emily was second on 1.47 and less than one fence separated the top eight, including Tabitha Kyle who was sitting in eighth place on 3.27.

Kyle moved up two places with a clear in the first round, while Moloney remained in second place when Andre was again foot-perfect. Going in reverse order in the final round, only Moloney, Kyle and Sweden’s Liam Nilsson managed to keep a clean sheet - all three clear over the championship - while the rest faulted.

When sixth last into the arena, Kyle’s clear with BP Goodfellas put her in the driving seat as one by one those ahead of her faulted. That was until her teammate never looked like touching a pole and took the top position.

With one left to go, Moloney exited and began to cool off Temple Alice when she heard the Irish camp shouting and celebrating and she knew the title was hers. Andre ended with eight faults and slipped to 10th place overall. Alice Wachman only faulted once in the opening round of the final to finish 11th on a score of 8.33 with the Coolmore Showjumping-owned 12-year-old Killarney.

“It was very, very tight. The girl in front of me couldn’t afford a fence, and I couldn’t afford a fence because Tabitha was so close, but going in I was told to treat it the same as every other day. My dad and Denis [Flannelly] had such a clear plan for me and luckily it all worked out.”

Didn’t feel real

What was the feeling like when gold was confirmed? “It’s probably a feeling I’ve never felt before and it didn’t really feel real at the time,” Moloney said.

There is a family story with the horse, Temple Alice, who is by Foxglen Cruise and was bred by the late Susan MacDonald in Cappoquin, Co Waterford.

“Dad bought him about seven years ago now and he won Dublin on him as a six-year-old and then he rode him until he was nine or 10. After that we shared him for a while and then I completely took him over,” she said with a laugh. “Dad still puts in a massive effort with all the horses and my training. He is my main trainer and I get some lessons from Denis Flannelly too.

“Temple Alice is amazing to ride. He’s the easiest in the ring. He knows exactly what he’s at. He just jumps to where he has to jump but he’s the cleverest horse I’ve ever sat on. The things he can do to help you out is unbelievable. He knows well that the clear round is the end goal.”

Emily, who also had her mother Miriam and sister Anna supporting her in Germany, is heading into sixth year in Loretto Kilkenny and is now finished in the Junior division, with plans to step up to Young Riders next year. “I’d love to do horses full-time, but I still have college in the back of my mind to have something to fall back on,” she said, adding that the next few weeks will be busy as the pair have qualified for the 1.40m Young Rider class at the Dublin Horse Show.

Irish jacket

For Tabitha Kyle, it was her sixth European Championship but the first in the green jacket of Ireland. Daughter of Irish eventing Olympian Mark Kyle, Tabitha grew up in Leicestershire, England and last year moved to Greg Broderick’s Ballypatrick Stables in Co Tipperary.

In 2024, she was on the bronze medal-winning British Junior team but went two better with Ireland, winning team gold and individual silver with the Ballypatrick and Kevin Babington-bred eight-year-old BP Goodfellas (Stakkato Gold x Obos Quality), the horse who won gold at the WBFSH World Breeding Championships as a five-year-old under Ger O’Neill.

It was a special weekend for the Broderick family as Niamh McEvoy also won the team silver with another home-bred eight-year-old, BP Rocketman (Stakkato Gold x Quidam Junior I) and finished 12th individually.

“I only just started riding him this year and he is only eight so this was a very big step up for him. He took the week very very well and five clears from an eight-year-old is amazing. I came out of the ring after the final round and was so happy with that; I knew that was everything I could have done. As we were stood in the outdoor arena, we heard a few poles fall… we ended up on the podium and were over the moon with that, then silver was just a step better!”

On changing to ride for Ireland, she added: “I just felt like I wanted a change; it didn’t have anything to do with coming to Greg’s, I decided to make the change before coming over. Britain lacks top riders – the Young Riders only had three on their team; Ireland is harder to get picked as there are loads of top riders but it’s a higher level.”