A SPECIAL reception was held in Co Kilkenny to welcome home Ireland’s Lanaken ultra-talented gold and silver winners from their performances at the Belgian showpiece – Jason Foley (18), Seamus Hughes-Kennedy (17) and Mikey Pender (19). Exhibiting textbook performances under pressure, the young trio dominated the FEI WBFSH Jumping World Breeding Championships 2019 Young Horses in the five, six, and seven-year-old finals taking four of the nine major awards before the world’s very best.
Seamus Hughes-Kennedy won gold in the seven-year-old final with Cuffesgrange Cavadora ((ISH) Z Wellie 72 (KWPN) out of Cuffesgrange Cavalidam (ISH) by Luidam (KWPN)), bred by Eamonn Sheahan and owned by Clare Hughes.
“Last year Cavadaro finished fourth in the Six-Year-Old Final with Ger O’Neill in the saddle. They were clear and in the lead until the last few competitors but just missed out on a medal, so I’m very pleased we’ve earned gold,” said Seamus, the son of Clare Hughes and Melvin Kennedy.
Jason Foley, who dislocated his shoulder only weeks ago, took gold in the five-year-old final with Rockwell RC (Kannan (KWPN) out of Urban Sea ((ISH) by Guidan (SF)), bred by Ronan Byrne, now owned by Sean Cubitt.
After his win, Jason said: “I didn’t actually think that I could make it here, so I hope the hospital doesn’t see this, but I thought, let’s try it and I was lucky that it went okay!”
Kildare’s Mikey Pender collected silver as runner-up with Chacco Bay ((OLDBG) by Chaccato out of Heops), bred by Alfons Brueggehagen and owned by Hiltrup Sporthoses GmbH. Pender went on to win a second silver in the six-year-old final with MHS Cardenta ((ISH) by Cardento (HOLST) out of Willow Point (ISH) by Diamond Serpent (ISH)), bred by Thomas Brennan and owned by Bravo Hughes Ltd.
Proud day
Thursday evening’s reception took place at O’Sullivan’s Tap Room Brewery, with family, friends, winning owners and breeders in attendances along with Horse Sport Ireland representatives and local politicians Carlow-Kilkenny TD John McGuinness and the Mayor of Kilkenny Martin Brett.
Horse Sport Ireland’s CEO Ronan Murphy commented: “This has been a memorable World Breeding Championships for our horses and riders. To take home two gold and two silver against the best young horses in the world is another huge boost for the Irish Sport Horse industry. I want to congratulate all our riders, owners and of course the breeders of all our horses and the entire team who represented Ireland brilliantly at these Championships.”
Ireland’s chef d’equipe at Lanaken, John Ledingham said: “The Championships attract the top-ranking riders in the world with their best selected representatives of all the studbooks.
“The success is a true reflection of the Irish Sport Horse breeders and producers in Ireland and none of this can happen without the support and commitment of the breeding department in Horse Sport Ireland,” he added.