Brian Hennessy

WELL-known horse producer Jim Derwin has told The Irish Field that he will no longer be supporting the Irish Breeders Classic as a sponsor or competitor after two of his horses were disqualified from Saturday’s €45,000 Breeders Classic final at Barnadown in Co Wexford.

Jim Derwin had jumped double clear rounds in both qualifiers on Wednesday and Thursday with Deep Pockets and AHG Whiterock Cruise Down. However he was notified by an SJI official last Friday that both horses were disqualified from Saturday’s final on the grounds that they had left the show grounds overnight.

Speaking to The Irish Field, Jim Derwin said: “I think it was very unfair what they did. I brought the horses home on Wednesday after jumping, as I always do at a show. I was at Tallow Fair on Thursday morning and then headed back to the Breeders Classic and both horses jumped clear again. I brought the horses home again Thursday evening and I was planning on bringing seven ponies down for my kids to jump at the weekend. I was delighted, to get two through to the final was great and I thought I had a good chance of doing really well.

“I then got a call on Friday evening to say I was disqualified for taking my horses off-site but that I could jump in the consolation final if I wanted to. I was pretty shocked. It wasn’t on the schedule for the show on the SJI bulletin or on the online entry form. Someone said after that it was on the website but to be honest, I didn’t see it. In my opinion the whole thing was handled badly.”

Sponsorship

Derwin had given €1,000 sponsorship to the event since it began but added, “I will not be supporting the show in the future. They could have phoned me and told me the rules and I would have brought the horses back straight away or gave me a warning or a fine, I wouldn’t have minded.”

Former Olympian Marion Hughes also had one of her horses disqualified for the same reason. She said: “I didn’t know that this rule was in place. I accept that it was my mistake for not reading the rules fully but I do feel there was a lack of information. At an FEI show, horses that must remain on the show grounds are stabled in one particular area.

“This was not the case at the Breeders Classic. I do think the Breeders Classic is a great concept and a lot of people put a lot of work into it.”

When contacted, Irish Breeders Classic organiser Ronan Rothwell said: “The IBC rules are implemented 100% by Show Jumping Ireland. It was brought to my attention by an SJI official during the show that someone had broken the rules and brought horses off-site. I have not in the past, or present, implemented the rules personally myself as this could be seen as a conflict of interest.

“The rules are clearly printed on our website and the schedule in the SJI bulletin refers people to our website to enter.

“This is a very prestigious competition with a €45,000 prize fund and that is why we have these rules in place. I would like to say that I was massively disappointed to hear that people had been disqualified.”