The year 2014 proved a landmark year for Irish event horse breeding when Bay My Hero and Paulank Brockagh, bred by Bryan Maguire and Paula Cullen, won the Rolex Kentucky and Mitsubishi Motors Badminton three-day events. It was a year that saw the Irish Sport Horse Studbook claim the World Breeding Federation for Sport Horses (WBFSH) title for the 19th time with those four-star successes sealing the race.

Three years later and the first of the northern hemisphere’s 2017 four-star winners at Kentucky and Badminton - fischerRocana FST and Nereo - have been bred by the German and Spanish breeders, Mirko Glotz and Ramon Beca.