JANUARY’s Irish Horse World issues featured the customary look at Hippomundo’s completed rankings of 2024. Following her Badminton CCI5* win in the previous springtime, Greenacres Special Cavalier (Cavalier Royale. Breeder: Michael Callery) was the top-earning event horse. That big win contributed to the Irish Sport Horse (ISH) studbook retaining its unbroken run as the leading eventing studbook since these prize money-based rankings began in 2015.
Lordships Graffalo in second place in the individual eventing horses results, foiled a potential Irish one-two-three. Cooley Rosalent (Third. Valent. Woods Rosbotham) and Ballaghmor Class (Fourth. Courage II. Noel Hickey) were the other top-four horses. Wendy de Fontaine was rated as Hippomundo’s top-ranked dressage horse.
Part two of the Hippomundo rankings review the following week revealed that H&M Indiana was the top-earning show jumping horse of 2024 (with earnings just short of €1.4m) and that the ISH top-three earners in show jumping were EIC Up Too Jacco Blue (Chacco-Blue. Mark Sherry), HHS Calais (Cavalier Royale. Ita Brennan) and James Kann Cruz (Kannan. Patrick Connolly).
Diamant de Semilly, whose offspring earned over €5m throughout 2024, was the leading show jumping sire.
Jessica Burke kicked off the next year of Breeders’ 10 features, which have become a firm readers’ favourite since the series began in 2020. Spanning a range of interests and markets in the horse and pony world, other breeders featured during the year and up to the time of writing include Bridget McGing, Nigel Poynton, Robert Draper, Jennifer Haverty, Carolyn Mellor, Ronan Tynan, Bridget Lee, Peter Byrne, Gillian and Sven Hadley, Deirdre Connolly, Martin O’Sullivan, Michael Mannion, Maeve Bailey, Seamus Duffy, Jerry Fitzgerald, Liam O’Meara, Tommy Butler, John Foran, Kieran Higgins, Maeve Cuffe, Padraig McCarthy, Sharon Mannion, Ernie Somerville, Carol Armstrong, Jack Freeney, Ciara Marron, Trevor Horgan, Maria Griffin, Ennisnag Stud, Pat Finn, Patrick Curran, Jenny Banks, Sinead Healion, Martin Sexton, Judith McClelland, Peter McLoughlin, Andrew and Chloe Roche, Esther Skelly-Smith, Donal Callery, Jack Murphy, Joanne Maguire, Eugene McEntee, Ciara Kinsella, Robin Johnston, Simon McCarthy and Eamon Sheehan.
Living The Dream: Patrick and Dolly Connolly with Shane Sweetnam after his Dublin Grand Prix third place result with James Kann Cruz \ Susan Finnerty
TSF Dalera, Jessica von Bredow-Werndl’s poll-topper and medal machine, retired in front of a full house at the CSI5*-W Longines CHI Classics at Basel in January, when Donatello D’Auge had the perfect dress rehearsal. The World Cup qualifier winner returned to Basel in April to repeat that result in the final with Julien Epaillard (FRA).
Breeders Elite studbook opened up a new office in Northern Ireland. Following an agreement between the World Breeding Federation for Sport Horses (WBFSH) and the International Studbook Committee (ISBC), the term “Breeding unknown” was done away for thoroughbreds and instead the TB suffix became a recognised brand.
News stories
In the same issue (February 15th), there was a report on the connections and breeders of the top-ranked WBFSH horses of 2024 - Legacy, TSF Dalera BB and JL Dublin - collecting the coveted Longines prizes at Bordeaux International. Romain Rotty bred Daniel Coyle’s superstar, while the late Silke Druckenmüller and Volker Göttsche-Götze are the breedersof TSF Dalera BB and JL Dublin.
Bridget McGing and Susan Malee were the guest speakers at the Traditional Irish Horse Association AGM in Portlaoise, where it was disclosed that the Association ran on a budget of €11,909 in 2023.
Norma Cook’s Kerry Bog Pony foal arrival graced Pony Tales as the first ‘baby pic’ of 2025, followed the next week by Ronan Tynan’s Diamond Boy foal ‘Valentino’, foaled on Valentines Day.
Pat Murphy, whose father Jimmy bred Boomerang and Eddie Macken's mentor Brian Gormley at Granard Show \ Susan Finnerty
In the March 1st issue, news stories included the briefing of the new Minister for Agriculture Martin Heydon TD by Department officials on the issue of Horse Sport Ireland passport delays.
US Olympian medallist Joe Fargis, an individual gold medal winner at Los Angeles with the ex-racehorse Classic Touch, contributed to a feature on the role of thoroughbreds in sport.
The following week’s edition (March 8th) carried the news story about an upcoming breeders’ meeting to discuss proposed changes to the Connemara inspections and classification processes, a frequent news topic as the year rolled on.
The breeding feature in the same issue was a review of the HSI stallion central inspections at Cavan since 2010.
In the March 15th issue, HSI announced details of a €600k breeding grant scheme allocated to 86 initiatives, of which Dublin Horse Show (€220,000) was the largest beneficiary.
“Cavan Calling” was the next part of the stallion inspection review series and the post-inspection report - Class of 2025 - listed the successful graduates. The wide variety of types and colours seen amongst the Irish Draught candidates sparked off ringside and online discussions on the ‘What Is An Irish Draught?’ topic.
The Draught community, on both sides of the Irish Sea and further abroad, lost a great stalwart in the late Ellen Walton, always present at Cavan, Balmoral and Dublin. Her counterpart in the Connemara world - Libb Petch - was another sad loss in 2025.
Seamus Hughes Kennedy riding ESI Rocky during the Longines FEI jumping European Championship qualifier at A Coruña \ FEI/Benjamin Clark
Horses of a lifetime
A round-up of some of the springtime stallion inspections on the continent and a prescient feature on the implications of ‘Trump Tariffs’ for breeders and agents within the US, Canadian and European markets were further food for thought.
The Northern Ireland Horse Board (NIHB) announced the launch of a digital passport for equines, according to the March 29th issue.
Breeder-readers had a bonus 40-page Sport Horse Stallions 2025 pullout, which included profiles on Lisa Cawley, Oliver Townend, Jan Greve and a Q&A feature with HSI CEO Denis Duggan on the foal passport issues.
The 40th anniversary of the FEI World Cup finals deserved a feature on its champion gallery and a follow-up feature highlighted the career of the home-bred Donatello D’Auge.
The traditionally-bred McKinlaigh (Highland King. Yvonne Walsh) - “the horse that fast-tracked the gift of Chris Ryan to the sport horse world” - kicked off the next round of the popular Horse of a Lifetime series.
That Hong Kong individual silver medallist was followed by Slyguff Stud’s famous trio of Highland Flight, Imperius and King of Diamonds, then Ballaghmor Class, La Biosthetique Sam FBW, TSF Dalera BB (with the breaking news that she was in foal to Vitalis), Colorado Blue and the springtime series wrapped up with the greatest household name of all time: Boomerang, as told by Pat Murphy, whose late father Jimmy bred the legendary show jumper in Grangemockler, and Granard connections of local hero Eddie Macken.
In the issue of May 17th, a studbook inspections review was announced, which included an IFAC online survey carried out on behalf of HSI and funded by DAFM.
Colorado Blue, foaled at Mellon Stud in Co Limerick, placed third at Badminton for Austin O’Connor.
Minister for Agriculture Martin Heydon was again questioned in the Dáil about delays in issuing foal passports, according to the June 14th news pages.
After the Dublin shop window, it was back to business by the August 23rd issue with the news story about the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) putting the studbook provision services out to tender after their three-year cycle was almost completed. Horse Sport Ireland had won the studbook tender, while the Irish Horse Board won the marketing and promotion services in 2022. At the time of writing, no decision had been released as to the latest tenders decision.
There was a reminder in the following week’s issue about the deadline for an early bird offer for registering foals, via the HSI’s Horse Source system. How much does it cost to register a foal? €147.60 for registration with pedigree, compared to the full price of €200 after August 31st. Naming a foal brought the registration fee up to €159.90 or €210 post-deadline.
Credit where it is due, there was a much-improved turnaround for foal passports reported in 2025, compared to the previous year, as the new system bedded in. In other areas (for example, owners, selections and most recently, an unpopular levy introduction), 2025 turned into an equine world’s form of Whack-A-Mole for HSI to deal with.
The news of the sale of ESI Rocky - a revelation in the Aga Khan the previous month with Seamus Hughes Kennedy - to Monaco’s Anastasia Nielsen appeared in the September 13th issue. Also that week, there was a summary of the IHB AGM held in Mullingar, where an annual review of the Board’s marketing actitivies and plans to submit a bid for the DAFM tenders was referred to. The effect of ‘Trump tariffs’ on the US market and expanding other markets, such as Canada, UAE, Scandinavia, France and Germany, to compensate were other topics.
The Burghley top three of Lordships Graffalo, Colorado Blue and Irish Sport Horse Cavalier Crystal collected important points for their respective studbooks as the World Breeding Federation for Sport Horses (WBFSH) rankings calendar year entered its final stretch.
Judith and Eric McClelland with Black Ice and Jérôme Robiné at Blenheim Palace after the Co Down-bred became the highest-placed Irish Sport Horse at the 2025 European championships
Medals galore
More points and all-important medals were divvied out at the FEI European eventing championships at Blenheim Palace, where two Irish Sport Horses - Chance Encounter and Millridge Atlantis - were on the Irish silver medal-winning team.
Another ISH - Black Ice (Vechta) - won a German team gold medal and recorded a top-10 individual result too. He featured in the ‘Black, Red and Gold Ice’ breeding feature on the Blenheim and European championship pedigrees, while his breeder Judith McClelland led off a stream of medal-winning ISH breeders as the WBFSH young horse championships began in the autumn.
The October 4th issue carried a report on Lanaken bloodlines. Two more Irish Sport Horses - the five-year-old bronze medal winner Tysons Lady Lux (Tyson. Breeder: Shay Hesnan) and the silver medallist in the six-year-olds: BP Othello (H5 Ganesh Hero Z. Ennisnag Stud) added to the ISH total of 27 medals won to date at these championships since the Simon McCarthy-bred Master Ballinteskin won the first medal there in 2001.
The ongoing debate about what exactly is an Irish Sport Horse today - in light of the dominance of warmblood bloodlines and whether the fact an ISH-registered or any denomination horse is foaled in Ireland makes it ‘Irish’ - was the background to the ‘What Is An Irish Sport Horse?’ article in the October 11th edition.
Donatello D’Auge (show jumping), London 52 (eventing) and Mount St John Freestyle (dressage) were revealed as the WBFSH’s top-ranked horses after the 2025 results were released in October at their annual General Assembly, held this year in South Africa.
The ISH studbook lost out to the Holsteiner Verband for a second year in the WBFSH eventing title race. However, after years in the wilderness, the studbook retained its top-10 place, rising one place to finish seventh. My Clementine (OBOS Quality. David Prentice) and Brookfield Quality (OBOS Quality. Sean Kelly) were the top-ranked Irish Sport Horses, finishing 13th and third respectively in the show jumping and eventing categories.
Cooley Rosalent finished 11th in the WBFSH eventing horse rankings and her breeder Woods Rosbotham, who passed away this year, was posthumously honoured at the NIHB awards to mark its 30th anniversary.
John McKibbin (show jumping), Patricia Connon (dressage), Brian Clingan (showing) and Aldyth Roulston (ponies) were the other breeders’ awards recipients on the night. Pony Tales in the same issue (October 18th) shared the news of the famous Connemara stallion Silver Shadow’s death.
Details of the latest Equine Technical Support and Equine Breeding Scheme appeared in the October 25th edition as the latest funding round was launched.
A clean sweep of medals was won by Irish Sport Horses at the 40th anniversary of the WBFSH young eventing horse championship at Le Lion d’Angers. Brookfield Danny de Muze (gold, seven-year-olds), Rutlands Flamenco (silver, six-year-olds) and Tykillen Tango (bronze, six-year-olds) and their respective breeders Donal Callery - who went on to win the Gain/The Irish Field Star of the Month award for October - Eugene McEntee and Wexford vet/producer Ciara Kinsella were next to feature in the Breeders’ 10 series.
Tom McEwen with Brookfield Danny De Muze who won the seven-year-old division of the FEI WBFSH World Breeding Eventing Championships for Young Horses at Le Lion d'Angers \ Pam Cunningham/Irish Eventing Times
Special horses
The same issue also shared the unfortunate news about the loss of Chance Encounter, Robbie Kearns’ silver medal-winning horse at the European championships. His team of breeder Robin Johnston, owner Richard Ames, rider Robbie Kearns and groom Maxine Rae contributed to a double feature about the charismatic grey in the following weeks.
Which horses won a CCI5*-L in 2025? An article in the November 1st issue answered that question, with Lordships Graffalo being the outstanding horse of the eventing calendar, winning both UK fixtures - Badminton and Burghley - two of just seven such five-star events held worldwide.
Brookfield Quality (OBOS Quality. Sean Kelly. Fifth, Kentucky), Cooley Rosalent (Valent. JW (Woods) Rosbotham. Second) and Cavalier Crystal (Jack Of Diamonds. Thomas Horgan. Fourth) at Badminton and the trio of Highly Suspicious (Russel. Eamon Kenny. Fourth) and Chance Encounter (Creevagh Grey Rebel. Robin Johnston. 10th) at Luhmühlen were the first batch.
In the autumn, the strike rate was kept up by Cavalier Crystal (third) and Annaghmore Valoner (Coroner. Sinead Healion. Fourth) at Burghley; HSH Blake (Tolan R. Justin Burke. Fourth) and Sunday Times (Cult Hero. Paddy Joyce. 10th) flew the flag at Maryland and then at Pau, 2025’s final five-star outing, the trio of Plot Twist B (Plot Blue - Safieria, by Concorde. Etter Sportpferde. Second), Cooley Nutcracker (Tolan R - Ballyshan Cleopatra, by VDL Arkansas. Gary Doherty. Third) and Dirty Old Town (Cruisings Ambassador - Puissance Royale, by Puissance. Michael Byrne. Eighth) completed this elite group.
A report on an interesting seminar, organised by the Irish Draught Horse Breeders Association (IDHBA), in Athlone was the basis for a follow-up ‘What Is An Irish Sport Horse?’ article, wth contributions from both the IDHBA and Irish Draught Horse Society (IDHS) in the November 15th edition.
Cornet Obolensky finally made his breakthrough in the WBFSH sire rankings, topping the show jumping leaderboard. Diarado (eventing) and Johnson TN (dressage) were the other leading sires, while OBOS Quality (third) and Sligo Candy Boy (10th) were the two Irish-based sires to make an appearance in the eventing sires top 10.
James Kann Cruz was the second-highest points earner of second-placed show jumping sire Kannan’s offspring, with one of his best results being in front of the home crowd and breeder Patrick Connolly, when he placed third in the Dublin Grand Prix back in August, as well as second in the Rolex Grand Prix of Geneva last weekend.
In 2020, Gary Higgins and John Mulvey bred two of the Pau CCI5*-L top-10 horses (Mermus R Diamonds and Brookfield Inocent) and sadly, just five years later, both popular characters were two more sad losses. On the equine front, we also bade farewell to the two-time Clifden champion Castle Urchin, Glenhill Gold, Kilmeen Jane and Horseware Bushman in 2025.
2026 - a world championship year - ahead, let’s see what results the next year brings.
What they said
“Sometimes in this workaday world, special things happen. I’ve used a lot of superlatives about the pair and I’m not sure I have any more! They [Austin O’Connor and Colorado Blue] keep doing it and it’s so good for Ireland.
“Now we have to say that the horse belongs to all of Ireland, he belongs to you and me and everybody. He’s too big for one person. He’s charismatic and he knows it. He’s the people’s horse now.
“Only two things have moved my life: horses and philanthropy. They’re not mutually exclusive by any means.”
Kate Jarvey