TIPPERARY’S Trevor Breen won the Hickstead Derby for the first time in 2014 with the one-eyed wonder horse Adventure de Kannan, Karen Swann’s beautiful big bay who had his eye removed in 2013, just two months before finishing runner-up that year.

His remarkable talent helped Breen to multiple career highlights, including winning big Grands Prix and being part of Irish teams. However, his achievements in the Hickstead arena are unrivalled. He is the only horse to win the Derby, the Speed Derby, the Eventing Grand Prix, the All England Grand Prix, and the Queen Elizabeth II Cup.

Breen’s second victory came one year later with Patricia Brown’s Irish Sport Horse Loughnatousa WB, by Spring Elegance VII, who also won in 2012 with Paul Beecher on board.

“I suppose it was something as a kid growing up, that everyone watched the Hickstead Derby. I think we didn’t go to a show that Sunday, we would all sit down and watch the Hickstead Derby, it was on BBC,” Breen told The Irish Field.

“When I started jumping professionally, it was a dream to jump it. I jumped it first in 2009 with Adventure De Kannan and I believed I could win it with him, or do very well in it anyway. Then it kind of turned into an obsession to win it, for a few reasons. It is so historic, so many legends of Irish show jumping have won it like Eddie Macken with Boomerang and then John Ledingham with Kilbaha.

“I knew Addy was good enough to win, and we had tried a few times so when I did win it, it was a huge relief. I didn’t want Addy to become the best horse to never win it.

“I was very lucky with both Addy and Loughnatousa WB, in that they were both really good at the bank. I was never thinking there were going to do something stupid. I was concentrating on the rails at the bottom and making sure I was set up for them. I grew up hunting and came off plenty of banks!

A select group

“From a career point of view, I definitely got a lot more notice after winning the Derby. There was a lot of publicity in the newspapers, and then it becomes that every time you enter the ring at a show, especially in England and even in France, it is announced that you are the Hickstead Derby winner.

“It puts you on another level, with a select group I suppose. It’s a huge thing to have done and definitely a career highlight from a personal point of view, I am delighted to be able to say that I have done it.

"I remember Geoff Billington came up to me afterwards and gave me a hug and he whispered in my ear ‘Welcome to the club’, and that was a bit chilling; it is a fairly select club!”

Breen was confident returning in 2015 with both Addy and Loughnatousa WB, who he first rode around the Derby the previous year. “It was different in 2015, I went there to win it again. I was really confident, both horses felt in great form. I genuinely felt I could be clear on both and be in the jump-off against myself. As it turned out, Addy had one down and I was the only clear with WB and didn’t have to jump-off.”

Breen added: “Addy was a great horse. Over the course of his career, he won every type of class he could win except a puissance, because I never put him in one. He was probably one of the most intelligent horses I ever had. He knew what I wanted and he gave his all every time. He loved Hickstead.”