A FREAK accident in a horse walker sadly claimed the life of talented sport horse RD Powerplay, campaigned and owned by Kildare young rider Mikaela Weld.

The eight-year-mare by Cavalier Royale was out of the thoroughbred Uptown (Be My Guest), raced by Mikaela’s parents John and Michelle. Known as ‘Posh’, and broken-in by Mikaela’s brother Charles, RD Powerplay had her first show outing in 2017. Trained by Paddy Quinlan, the duo successfully campaigned in the 2018 RDS young rider qualifiers.

“Last summer, I jumped my first international in seniors with Posh where she jumped brilliantly,” said Mikaela.

“We then went on to be stabled in Ballypatrick and got lessons with both Greg Broderick and Ethan Ahearne for a good part of the summer, which was amazing. We had a brilliant show in Cavan Indoor Championships. This year, we went to the last Cavan show, their Young Rider and Grand Prix Show where Posh got into the 1.30m jump-off two out of three days.

“Then on Wednesday this week, sadly Posh had a fatal accident on the walker and was killed instantly. She was a horse that was destined for the very top of show jumping.” Mikaela Weld had hoped to continue their show jumping career together in Europe this winter.