ON Friday August 6th, 1926, the Dublin Horse Show hosted its first ever Nations Cup competition in the main arena at Ballsbridge.

The Aga Khan trophy was presented that year to the victorious Swiss team by Tim Healy, Governor-General of the Irish Free State, so beginning a momentous and long-standing tradition for Ireland and for the RDS.

This year’s RDS Library and Archives Dublin Horse Show exhibition takes an in-depth look at the 90-year history of the Nations Cup at Dublin, from its beginnings in the turbulent years of the 1920s up until the present day.

In the autumn of 1925, Judge William Evelyn Wylie of the RDS met with two Swiss army officers in the Shelbourne Hotel, Dublin. Colonels Ziegler and Haccius were in Ireland to buy horses for Switzerland’s military show jumping team. During the meeting, the officers explained that Ireland sold between 500 and 1,000 horses a year to Switzerland and that this number could be increased if Ireland were to host and enter a team for an international military show jumping competition at Dublin.

The new Nations Cup competition was organised with the support of W.T. Cosgrave, President of the Executive Council of the Irish Free State, Patrick Hogan, Minister of Agriculture and Edward Bohane, director of the RDS.

It proved an immediate success with attendance figures for the Dublin Horse Show increasing from 67,129 in 1925 to 93,000 1926.

The first Irish Nations Cup team, who famously had only three months training for the event, were drawn from the newly created Army Equitation School, at McKee Barracks, in the Phoenix Park. In 1926 Captains Ged O’ Dwyer on Oisin, Cyril Harty on Cuchulainn and Dan Corry on Finghin were chosen to compete against France, Britain, the Netherlands, Belgium and Switzerland.

The first Aga Khan trophy, presented by Aga Khan III for the Irish leg of the Nations Cup, was awarded to the Swiss team by the Governor-General of the Irish Free State, Tim Healy.

The Irish team took second place with Britain third, France fourth, the Netherlands fifth and Belgium sixth.

FIRST WIN

Ireland secured its first Nations Cup victory at Dublin in 1928 when the Aga Khan trophy was presented to Capt. Cyril Harty on An Craobh Rua, Capt. Dan Corry on Finghin and Capt. Ged O’Dwyer on Cuchulainn. This success can be attributed, in part, to the Army Equitation School’s inspired appointment of Colonel Paul Rodzianko as its head instructor earlier in the same year.

Rodzianko, a former officer in the Household Cavalry of Tsar Nicholas II, was a successful competitive show jumper and a world renowned equitation expert. He trained with the English master of the Russian Cavalry, James Fillis and later, at the Italian Calvary School, with Capt. Federico Caprilli. These two men made a great impact on the world of equitation introducing new methods of riding, including changing the traditional posture of the rider to the “forward seat” or “en avant”.

With the application of Fillis and Caprilli’s innovative methods and the hard work and determination of the Army riders, Rodizanko built the foundations of a truly magnificent Irish show jumping team that would go on to take victory after victory during the 1930s.

Rodizanko left the Army Equitation School in 1931 and his successor as School instructor and team leader, Ged O’Dwyer later said of him: “He took a bunch of raw farmers’ sons and in three years turned us into the greatest national team of all time. For six hours a day under the Colonel’s strict eye, the team rode themselves and their mounts into the ground.”

O’Dwyer and the Irish team secured five Nations Cup victories in the years 1932-1938 and an outright win of the Aga Khan trophy in 1937.

This period witnessed the international riding excellence of Captains O’ Dwyer, Fred Aherne, Dan Corry, Jack Lewis and Lt.Dan Leonard producing wins for Ireland at Boston, Toronto, Lucerne, New York, Nice, Amsterdam, London and Aachen. These victories were secured with a stable of world-class Irish horses including Blarney Castle, Cuchulainn, Ireland’s Own, Miss Ireland, Glendalough, Clontarf, Duhallow, Red Hugh and Limerick Lace.

War

In August 1939, France lifted the Aga Khan trophy at Dublin and just a month later war broke out across Europe. The Nations Cup competition was not held again until the end of hostilities in 1946, but for a brief moment before the storm, nations who would soon be engaged in terrible conflict came together in peaceful competition, and the Dublin Horse Show was hailed as an oasis of international peace.

In 1946, after a six-year hiatus caused by the Second World War, the Army Equitation School was re-established at McKee Barracks and the Dublin Horse Show once again hosted the Nations Cup competition. Ireland won the Aga Khan trophy that year with a team made up of Comdt. Dan Corry on Antrim Glens, Capt. Jack Stack on Tramore Bay and Lt Col. Jack Lewis on Clontibret.

From 1947 onwards, the Fédération Equestre Internationale (FEI) allowed civilian riders to compete alongside military riders in the Nations Cup.

This introduced a new generation of riders into international show jumping, including such great names as Iris Kellett, Joan Uprichard, Jim Bryson and Noel Hayes, who made up the first civilian team to represent Ireland at an official Nations’ Cup meeting in the same year. Ireland fielded its first successful mixed military and civilian team at Dublin in 1963. Capt. William Ringrose on Loch an Easpaig, Seamus Hayes on Goodbye, Diana Connolly Carew on Barrymore and Tommy Wade on Dundrum proved an inspired combination and secured the Aga Khan trophy for that year.

The late 1970s saw the return of Irish fortunes with three successive wins that in 1979 claimed the Aga Khan trophy outright for Ireland for the first time in 42 years. The ‘dream team’ of 1977-1979 comprised of Paul Darragh on Heather Honey, James Kernan on Condy, Eddie Macken on Boomerang and Capt. Con Power on Coolronan, Castle Park and Rockbarton, with chef d’equipe Comdt. William Ringrose.

The Irish winning trend continued throughout the 1980s and 1990s, and most notably between 1999 and 2000, when Ireland won a record of 10 Nations Cups, including the Aga Khan at Dublin, earning them that season’s Nations Cup Championship.

Today Aga Khan Friday remains the most popular day of the Dublin Horse Show and the Nations Cup continues to enthral and excite new generations of spectators. Last year, Olympic bronze medallist, Cian O’Connor on Good Luck, Darragh Kenny on Sans Souci Z, Greg Broderick on MHS Going Global and Bertram Allen on Romanov secured the 23rd Aga Khan win for Ireland and team manager Robert Splaine, continuing a tradition of excellence that places Ireland at the very forefront of international competition.

The RDS Library exhibition Aga Khan: 90 years of the Nations Cup at the Dublin Horse Show takes an in-depth look at the history of the Furusiyya FEI Nations Cup at Dublin.

It runs from July 15th to September 2nd and admission is free, except during the Dublin Horse Show, when general show admission applies.