Isabel Hurley

ALL levels of the Irish Sport Horse industry will benefit from a massive boost - estimated to be worth millions of euro - after a golden week of success at the RDS for Irish riders, horses, breeders and producers, leading industry figures claimed this week.

With Irish riders dominating almost all of the major international show jumping classes at the RDS - coupled with the Irish team’s spectacular win in the Nations Cup - a surge of positivity is already evident in the €700m sport horse industry.

The RDS five-day show pumps almost €50m into the Irish economy as a whole, but crucially it has created a huge buzz for riders, owners, producers and breeders with plenty of international interest in buying horses and foals.

American and British buyers in particular, with the strong currency difference in their favour, were keen to buy and avail of the value.

Chairman of Horse Sport Ireland, Pat Wall, told The Irish Field: “After the RDS, the entire industry is on a high. There is a real mood of optimism and buoyancy. Nothing puts the wind back in your sails like success. Our team’s phenomenal victory in the Aga Khan has buoyed everyone up ahead of our last chance at Aachen to qualify for Rio.

“To see Tipperary’s Greg Broderick, on an Irish-bred horse, perform like he did on the world stage at the RDS last week, it demonstrated that we can breed jumping machines in Ireland. People were saying you had to go to Europe to do that, breed a jumping machine.

“Last Friday’s victory sent out a message saying not only can we breed top show jumping horses here, we can produce them here and we can ride them here to a world class standard. Greg and the Brennans (breeders of MHS Going Global) have shown we can do it all from Ireland - the complete package - breed, produce and compete from Ireland.”

Wall said he was in awe of the increasingly high standard of our young riders and young horse producers, so evident in the classes at this year’s Dublin Horse Show.

“In showjumping, good dam lines are essential and that message is definitely getting out there to Irish breeders. All of Pat Hanly’s (RDS show director) innovative ideas paid off this year - the new Connemara International Performance Championship and the performance class for the Irish Draughts - all to promote the Irish horse and pony - paid off.

“The only downside about the RDS I find is that you really need to be cloned yourself; there always seems to be three things happening at the one time. I wanted to see the young horses; the Eddie Macken masterclasses and the show jumping all at the one time,” added Wall.

Chairman of Show Jumping Ireland, Tony Hurley, said: “Two out of every three international competitions each day at the RDS were won by Irish riders and horses. Our national team winning in such a dominant manner in the Aga Khan Nations Cup and then for Kevin Babington and Conor Swail to come second and third in the Longines Grand Prix on the Sunday, it was super.

“Our riders and horses were in a different class at a five-star show on the world stage and that in turn will benefit the breeders and producers. To see the Irish-bred Going Global, bred by the Brennans in Kilkenny, going double clear, it was just brilliant and so important for Irish breeding.

“Our Nations Cup win augurs very well in terms of giving our riders confidence ahead of the challenge they will face at Aachen for Olympic qualification and if they achieve that, well, it will be the icing on the cake for us,” said Hurley who said that he could not overstate the importance of Ireland remaining in the top FEI league.

Goresbridge auctioneer Martin Donohoe said: “It was a top class week at the RDS for the Irish industry. It sent out the message loud and clear with Going Global in particular, a fantastic performance from a fantastic rider which gives Irish breeders a goal to produce for. MHS Going Global is the real proof of the pudding. There’s plenty of good Irish-breds horses out there but I’d say Going Global is one of the best horses in the world.

“And the knock-on effect of that Aga Khan victory - and such good results throughout Horse Show Week - results like that are a huge support to the whole industry.

“It actively encourages the foreign investment that we are trying to get to keep horses in Ireland and I know Horse Sport Ireland and their marketing team are working hard in this whole area now. It’s a big plus for everyone,’’ he added.

RTE reported increased viewing figures for all their Dublin Horse Show coverage during the week.