Equestrian events still falling victim to Covid-19

THE ongoing pandemic continues to wreak havoc on major equestrian fixtures with Clifden, Tattersalls July Show and the RDS showing classes now joining Millstreet International Horse Show in the cancellation stakes this summer.

The RDS announced showing classes at next month’s RDS National Equestrian Championships have been cancelled due to a lack of entries for the qualifiers.

“Two showing qualifiers due to be held last month at The Meadows Equestrian Centre and Maryville Stables were cancelled due to insufficient entries. The number of entries for this weekend’s qualifier at Galway Equestrian Centre (July 3rd-4th) were also too low for the classes to proceed. Consequently, the qualifiers in Barnadown (July 10th - 11th) have been cancelled,” said the RDS statement this week.

However, the RDS confirmed that the show jumping classes will go ahead as scheduled from Friday, August 20th to Sunday, August 22nd at Ballsbridge (see RDS qualifier report pages 94-96).

Loss of key fixtures

The Connemara Pony Breeders’ Society this week announced the cancellation of the 97th Annual Connemara Pony Show due to be held in September. The organisers vowed that the hugely popular event will be back from Monday, August 15th, 2022 for festival week.

Also announced this week was the cancellation of the Tattersalls Ireland July Show, scheduled for July 24th-25th. Held in conjunction with the Rolestown Show and the Ward Union Hunt, the decision was prompted by the evolving public health situation, coupled with scheduling complications over bloodstock sales fixtures.

The six-day 2021 Millstreet International Horse Show CSI2* will not take place this year, it was announced last week. “Despite the pace of the vaccination rollout in Ireland and the resulting reduction in current infection rates, it is clear that the easing of lockdown measures will not proceed at a pace that will allow us to stage the August show to its traditional standards while complying with the current Government guidelines,” said the Duggan family who vowed Millstreet would be back from August 3rd-7th, 2022.