IT’s great to be able to stand up and match some of the big businesses in the country and to go to Lanaken and be able to compete alongside them.”

Galway show jumper Jessica Burke sure is matching the big boys.

Fresh from winning two young horse championships at the 2017 Dublin Horse Show, and winning both the five-year-old and six-year-old Irish Studbook Series, Burke is preparing to make her first trip to the World Breeding Championships for Young Horses in Lanaken, Belgium, next week.

Enjoying her most successful year yet, the 25-year-old is well aware of what it takes to succeed in this game. Based in Gort, Co Galway, Jessica combines her busy show jumping business at Coole Sport Horses with teaching maths in Calasanctius College, Oranmore.

“This is the first year we have tried for Lanaken (selection) because it was the first year I felt I had the horses good enough to go, and I am really confident with the two horses that are going,” she said.

Those two are the eye-catching six-year-old stallion Castlelawn Captain Junior and the Future Trend-sired seven-year-old Express Trend.

Jessica took over the ride on Gabriel Slattery’s ‘Junior’ this year and recorded one of her career highlights to date when winning the Cruising six-year-old National Championship in Dublin last month.

As well as that, the combination won the Irish Studbook Series, the second year in a row for ‘Junior’, who won the five-year-old series in 2016 and was runner-up in the consolation final in Lanaken with Shane Dalton in the saddle.

By the great Captain Clover and out of Diroe (by Diamond Lad), who has already produced proven performers in the 1.60m Bahrain Silver (by Bahrain Cruise) and 1.40m Carragher (by Courage II), big things are expected of the Elizabeth Gallagher-bred traditional Irish Sport Horse, who combines competing with stud duty at Slattery’s Castlelawn Stud.

“I just got the ride on Junior this year and I suppose everyone thought a lot of him. They (the owners) expect him to be the next Captain Clover. He has a great technique, he’s careful, scopey and a great brain and he is so consistent – I’m going to Lanaken very confident with him.”

Jessica Burke and Express Trend (Photo: Laurence Dunne)

Express Trend (Future Trend x Condios), owned and bred by Liam Nicholas from Clare, is the horse Jessica is most proud of. Having arrived in her yard as an unbroken three-year-old, when she was only 21, she has produced him into a Grand Prix horse.

“For me, having Express Trend go to Lanaken is a big highlight. We have had him since he was three and he was hardy but he has turned into a fantastic horse. He finished second overall to Ger O’Neill and Castlefield Vegas in the studbook series, and everyone knows how good they are.”

DREAM COME TRUE

Although she has competed in Dublin every year since the age of 11, and was a past winner of the young riders, her first championship win came on Saturday in Simmonscourt when claiming the Mo Chroi four-year-old class with Dessie Judge’s Lux A Special Lady (Lux Z x Coille Mor Hill).

The four-year-old mare is a full-sister to the 2009 five-year-old champion Special Lux, who went on to be competed at 1.60m level in Britain by Anthony Condon before being sold to America.

“I remember the day Dessie dropped her down in January, we were excited to get her because we had high expectation.

“It’s a really hard class to win but I remember the first time I jumped her I thought to myself ‘god this one could actually win Dublin’.”

Other stars in her yard include Miss Jolly, winner of the first RDS qualifier and the five-year-old Studbook Series, Greenvale Draco, another six-year-old owned by Calvin McDonald who also competed in Dublin this summer, Jackie Lee’s Kashino and two eight-year-old’s Clonguish Vivaro and Calinda.

For such a young lady, Jessica has built up a talented bunch of young horses to challenge on any stage, and she credits her owners and sponsors with the majority of her success.

“The most important component to my success really has been the owners and my sponsors – Dave and Helena from Darragh Equestrian, in conjunction with Harry Hall in England, and Gain Equine Nutrition have come on board this year. I have eight or nine really good owners who have always had their horses with me since they were three-year-olds, I am really lucky.”

This time of year is the busiest for the secondary school teacher as the shows continue and school resumes, but juggling the two is something Jessica has always done. No stranger to the international circuit, she spent much of her pony career competing internationally and enjoys the balance of school and horses.

“Juggling the two is probably something I have always done. When I was in school I rode a lot of ponies and jumped abroad a lot so I was used to juggling it. Then I went straight to college and jumped in young riders and I worked with Marie Burke in the summers when I was in college. I learned an awful lot there, especially about producing the young horses, I suppose it was there I got the interest in the young horses.

“And then when I finished college, I just started teaching to get a bit of experience and I am lucky to be working local to home in Oranmore. It can be tricky around the months of May and September because it’s a busy time but in the winter it’s great to have the school because it’s nice to have a little bit of downtime from the shows and a different circle of friends.”

Jessica runs the business with her boyfriend, Darragh Reilly, who manages the yard, makes the plan for the horses and keeps everything ticking over in the winter. During the summer months Jessica has a groom for the shows, but other than that, it is hard graft that has carved out such success for the Gort woman.

Addressing revenue and the logistical difficulty of being based in the west of Ireland, Jessica said: The security of the job makes it easier for me to do the horses, even though I do run it as a business.

“It is definitely a struggle from the west of Ireland because of the location and I suppose getting the backing of the owners is so important and you need to produce and sell some of your own horses to make it worthwhile.

“You look at Ballypatrick (Greg Broderick) and Ger O’Neill there, you look up to those guys for being able to make such a good business out of it. You have to try and produce and sell your own horses, I think that’s the only way to try and make money out of it.”

A fantastic ambassador to the sport in Ireland, mounted on competitive Irish horses and making it work from the west of Ireland, Jessica Burke is definitely not one to be underestimated at the world breeding championships next week.