Caitriona Murphy

DATES and a €6,500 prize fund for the 2015 Stepping Stones to Success league have been announced by Wexford EC.

The league will kick off on Wednesday January 1st, 2015 and continue every Wednesday until Wednesday, April 22nd, while the final will take place on Tuesday, May 5th.

The young horse league, which organiser Orla Peare describes as the richest in Ireland, will be sponsored by Botanica International and Shires Equestrian.

Judges for 2015 will be HSI Coach of the Year Ian Fearon, Anne Marie Dunphy and Sasha Stewart, as well as a number of guest judges.

“We look forward, as do many others, to seeing the four-year-olds attending and being produced slowly from the start of the league to the final,” said Peare. “This year it was a tremendous success to see the winners of the four and five-year-old final here at Wexford Equestrian in May going on to win the young event horse class in the RDS in August.”

She continued: “This was a huge endorsement for the league here to show that the format and judging was able to identify the best young horses in the country.”

The 2014 five-year-old Stepping Stones league winner was OBOS Impressive, owned by Sharon Power from Co Waterford and ridden by Ciara Power, while the four-year-old winner was Westwinds MacKenzie, owned by Barry Kehoe from Wexford and ridden by Sarah Ennis.

Live streaming of the final and videos of individual horses will once again be provided by irishsport.tv and details of the viewing day will soon be announced.

More information on the league can be found on the website steppingstonestosuccess.ie and on Facebook.