WHAT changes were there since last year’s World Breeding Federation for Sport Horses (WBFSH) sire rankings? Chacco-Blue denied a Diamant de Semilly treble in the show jumping rankings as the other two stalwarts, Contendro and De Niro, pulled off a hat-trick by retaining their respective eventing and dressage crowns.

Some 50% of the top-10 eventing sires were again Irish-based, a highly-respectable result which keeps Irish Sport Horse breeding visible on both the WBFSH and world stages, while the European powerhouse studbooks maintained their grip in the show jumping and dressage sire tables.