IT was a night of glitz and glamour as the show jumping fraternity gathered last Saturday night to celebrate the achievements of Irish riders at home and abroad at the annual Irish National Showjumping Awards Gala at Killashee House Hotel, Naas.

In honour of a gold medal-winning year, the theme for the night was gold and it was fitting that the winning teams – the pony and senior European gold medallists – received some of the loudest applause.

This year’s 22nd annual awards were presently by FEI correspondent Louise Parkes and Brendan McArdle who gave a full run down of the Irish achievements. In addition to the national and international awards, this year saw the introduction of the prestigious ‘FEI Badges of Honour’ in recognition of riders performances for Ireland on the international team stage.

In total, 14 riders were awarded prestigious ‘FEI Badges of Honour’, of which, seven riders received gold badges, two riders received silver badges and five got bronze badges.

Chairman of the Showjumpers Club, Ronan Corrigan, welcomed those who attended and in particular the main sponsors, Horse Sport Ireland representatives Ronan Murphy and Jim Beecher.

MS Ireland were the charity of choice and Corrigan also welcomed Tom Kavanagh and his wife, speaking about how the disease effects 9,000 people in Ireland. On the show jumping front, he ended his welcome note by saying: “Looking at the results of our young riders and our more senior riders, Irish show jumping is definitely in good condition.”

The evening’s first award went to Sven Hadley, the winner of the Connolly’s Red Mills Spring Tour, presented by Jane Davis from Connolly’s Red Mills. Susan Lanigan O’ Keeffe and Marily Power, breeders of his leading horse Sumas Taloubet, got a special mention for their contribution to the industry.

Liam O’ Meara and Greg Broderick accepted their awards as winners of the Showjumping Ireland National Grand Prix league and the Horseware/TRM New Heights Champions Series.

On receiving his award as National Champion from Larry Masterson of TRM and Lorraine MacGuiness of Horseware Ireland, Broderick Spoke about the importance of this series to raise the bar for Irish show jumping, urging the powers that be to maintain the standard by keeping the fences at full height.

Last year Cian O’Connor was named as the EquiVet International rider of the year and this year he returned to accept the Gain International Rider of the Year award, following his bronze medal at the European Championships. O’Connor acknowledged the input of owners and all those behind the scenes in his success.

He spoke about the sacrifices made in terms of other Nations Cup to achieve the gold medal result in Gothenburg, and the positive input that team manager Rodrigo Pessoa had on achieving such good results.

Accepting the Coach of the Year award was Gary Marshall, who had also accepted his HSI Performance Coach of the Year award at the recent HSI Coaching and Breeding Conference in Cavan.

Marshall praised the centres and course designers in Ireland who helped prepare riders for top level competition abroad and how important their work was in producing stars.

STARS

The EquiVET Junior Team of the year came as no surprise when Marshall’s gold medal winning pony team of Harry Allen (representing by his sister April), Kate Derwin, Ciaran Nallon, Abbie Sweetnam and Seamus Hughes Kennedy stepped up to the podium to accept their well deserved accolade.

This was the second time for Ireland to have won team gold at the pony Europeans when Tom Costello (Star Trek), John Bamber (Misty Moods), Taylor Vard (Follyfoot II) and Alan Irwin (You Can Do It) all jumped double clears in 1978 in Le Touquet, France.

The Horse Sport Ireland Team of the Year award went to Ireland’s European Championship winning team, sponsored by Devenish and The Underwriting Exchange, of Bertram Allen, Denis Lynch, Cian O’Connor, Shane Sweetnam and Mark McAuley.

The Showjumpers Club Horse of the Year went to Denis Lynch’s mount, the 14-year-old stallion All Star 5. At present Lynch and All Star are ranked the number two horse and rider combination in the world on the current FEI leaderboard. That combination finished 10th in Gothenburg.

The final and most anticipated award of the evening was the Showjumpers Club Hall of Fame. This year, four very special names were added to the Roll of Honour.

The late Paul Darragh, James Kernan, Eddie Macken and Captain Con Power from the three–in–a–row Aga Khan ‘Dream Team’ (1977–79) were inducted into the Hall of Fame for 2017. The team’s win in 1979 marked the fifth and most recent time the Aga Khan Trophy was won outright.

James Kernan was first to speak about this great team and his horse Condy, and he gave credit to his late father Frank Kernan and his sister Shirley for their wisdom and support to have had such a great horse.

Con Power also shared some fond memories about the golden age of showjumping, while Dave Darragh and Paul’s wife, Jane Darragh, reminisced about Paul’s success and the comradeship of the team.

National Showing Jumping award winners 2017

Spring Tour Champion – Sven Hadley

Spring Tour Leading Horse – Hadley Sport Horses’ Sumas Taloubet (ISH)

Spring Tour Breeder – Marily Power and Susan Lanigan O’Keeffe

Spring Tour Pro–Am – Vickie Anderson

Spring Tour Young Rider – Michael Pender

National Grand Prix Champion – Liam O’Meara

National Grand Prix Leading Owner – Liam O’Meara (Mr. Coolcaum)

New Heights Series Champion – Greg Broderick

New Heights Series Leading Owner – Molly Tracy (Chinook II)

International Rider of the Year – Cian O’Connor

Horse of the Year – All Star 5, owned by Thomas Straumann, ridden by Denis Lynch

Rookie of the Year – Mark McAuley

Junior Team of the Year – European Pony Gold Medal Team (Abbie Sweetnam, Kate Derwin, Harry Allen, Ciaran Nallon, Seamus Hughes Kennedy, chef d’equipe Harry Marshall)

Senior Team of the Year – European Senior Gold Medal Team (Bertram Allen, Cian O’Connor, Denis Lynch, Shane Sweetnam, Mark McAuley, chef d’equipe Rodrigo Pessoa)

International Young Rider of the Year – Lucinda Roche

National Young Rider Champion – Jack Ryan

National Champion – Greg Broderick

Amateur of the Year – Joanna Penfold

Speed Amateur of the Year – Sara Gorman

Groom of the Year – Lizzie Aldridge (Ballypatrick Stables)

Show of the Year – Portmore Autumn Championships

Special Achievement Awards – Ger O’Neill (World six–year–old champion with Columbcille Gipsy), Ger O’Neill & Eamonn Murphy (Breeder/ owners of Columncille Gipsy), Cian O’Connor (Individual bronze medal), Harry Allen (individual gold), Kate Derwin (Individual silver)

Hall of Fame – Paul Darragh, Captain Con Power, Eddie Macken and James Kernan