EVENTING followers are in for a spectacular treat next week when Millstreet stages its most cosmopolitan international fixture to date. Featuring riders from all six continents (only Antarctica excluded!) and from 19 individual countries, this is one the biggest collections of nations ever seen outside of a major championship and certainly in Ireland.

Carrying added significance, the event will stage the third leg of the 2023 FEI Eventing Nations Cup series, as well as a special CCIO3*-L sector, which is a direct Olympic qualifier confined to those countries in groups F (Africa and the Middle East) and G (South East Asia and Oceania).

As a result, the list of visiting riders reads like a ‘Who’s Who’ of the sport, and heading them are the world number one Tim Price, together with his wife Jonelle, ranked world number two. From Great Britain, the on-form Piggy March is just one of a raft of compatriots which include the legendary William Fox-Pitt, Gemma Stevens (née Tattersall) and Emily King. Hot on the trail for an Olympic qualifying place, a powerful Australian contingent is spearheaded by Tokyo silver medallists Kevin McNab and Andrew Hoy, while riders from Belgium, Brazil, China, Italy and Japan also field recent Olympians.

Taking on the challenge with a relish, the home side is weighty in both numbers and quality. Every one of our recent championship squad members hold entries, and are outnumbered only in the long format classes.

Looking ahead to next week, Millstreet’s Thomas Duggan was somewhat circumspect, saying: “I prefer to do my talking after the event rather than before! There is no doubt we have a big task ahead of us but we’re looking forward to it and it’s going to be a great festival of eventing.”

Examining the competition itself, it is rewarding to see that the long format classes are very well supported. These have suffered from a dearth of numbers in recent years, but next week’s feature CCI4*-L encouragingly sports an expected 38 runners from nine nations. Great Britain dominates numerically, and probably fields two of the most fancied competitors in Gemma Stevens and Piggy March.

Both are very well mounted, with the former looking especially strong with her Irish-bred Flash Cooley, an 11-year-old son of CSF Mr Kroon, who was third in the short format equivalent at the venue last year. On upgrading, he was a good fifth at Blenheim in September and comes here on the back of just two runs this season.

Always competitive, Piggy March and fellow Irish-bred Coolparks Sarco landed the top spot in an advanced class at Cirencester only last month, but never to be discounted, the home side present a strong challenge. Ten riders are due to take part, with Austin O’Connor (Isazar) and Michael Ryan possibly looking the strongest contenders. Both have solid seasonal form, with the former picking up a top 10 placing in a highly competitive four-star short format class at Thoresby in March. Ryan meanwhile is double-handed with Badminton non-runner TR Kaygraff and Barnahown Corn Hill, both of whom have experience at the level. “They are both on mighty form,” said Ryan last week. “I would be hoping for a good run.”

Nations Cup

Having acted as the test event for the Tokyo Olympics back in 2018, next week’s staging of the FEI eventing Nations Cup (CCIO4*-NC-S) series will be the second to be hosted at the Co Cork arena. Running as the third of eight legs in the series, the class is not a direct Olympic qualifier, but the points will count towards October’s final in Boekelo, where the last team ticket is up for grabs.

This year an unprecedented number of six teams are due to line up and with their Olympic ticket already in the bag, Ireland counts among the most fortunate. This will allow team coach Dag Albert the luxury of trialing new and less experienced combinations, but with no less than 30 home partnerships holding entries, his selection task will not be easy.

Of the sextet of teams, the New Zealand squad appear to hold the upper hand, but will certainly not have things their own way. As the winners of the second leg in Montelibretti, Belgium again look strong, while Great Britain, although appearing to field an comparatively inexperienced squad are always a danger.

Although they will probably run their strongest team in their own three-star regional qualifier, another of the favourites could be the reigning silver medallists Australia. The antipodeans were among the fancied contenders at last year’s World Games, but following a series of misfortunes are still on the qualification trail. Individually it is a very open contest. A massive 75 runners are due to go to post, but if one has to pick a favourite it could be Tim Price, who runs both his top horses Falco and Happy Boy. Millstreet regular Kevin McNab teams up with his up and coming star Miss Pepperpot, while from the home squad, Esib Power catches the eye with Senza Fine as does Joseph Murphy with Calmaro and Choclat.

World number one Tim Price (NZL) and Happy Boy are among the entries for Millstreet International Horse Trials next week \ Equus Pix Photography

Fantastic condition

Out on track, long standing Millstreet course designer Mike Etherington-Smith has been busy, and with the weather set fair and the park in fantastic condition, he is hoping that he won’t have to revert to any ‘Plan B’ options with any of his courses. “Millstreet is very special to me,” he stated. “There is not a lot of need to ring the changes hugely, and while we have turned it around and included several new fences, we will still retain the flow and park feel of the course. There are a few changes of questions in some of the combinations, but all the familiar favourites are being utilised, and for the first time, we will not be using the field near the cemetery at the far end of the track which will make the whole thing more compact without losing distance.”

As one of the most admired course designers in the world, Olympic, five-star and championship designer Etherington-Smith has been set quite a challenge in charting the track for the CCIO3*-L sector, a class from which two teams gain a direct Olympic qualification, and which is confined to nations from Africa, the Middle East, South East Asia and Oceania. “I’m very mindful that the class is an Olympic qualifier, and that has slightly impacted what I’m doing,” he explained. “It’s quite a tricky balance having to cater for the experienced and less experienced, but as it is a qualifier there have to be questions.”

Long format feature classes and the Nations Cup sectors aside, the remaining card offers the full quota of divisions, as well as the always intriguing CCIYH2* for six and seven-year-old. As an early but strong indicator for the Le Lion D’Angers world young horse championships in October, this year’s class is truly international, with riders from eight nations due to take part.

From an Irish perspective, (although through his rider Amanda Goldsbury he will be representing New Zealand), the hot favourite will be the unbeaten six-year-old Coolnorran Cooley. His string of successes has been well documented in these pages over the past month, but Richard Sheane’s outstanding headliner will have plenty of opposition, not only from the home side but also from overseas. Looking again at the Irish runners, last week’s Kilguilkey winners Michael McNally and Assagart Earl look promising, as do Heidi Hamilton with The Sequel and also Joseph Murphy (Dstud Flirtation).

Showcase

The event will also be an important one for Irish team selectors across the board. Pony coach Jane Kinsella will be closely watching her potential team candidates in the CCI2*-S, and it will not be a surprise if the in-form partnerships of Molly O’Connor (Coolnaleen Rebel), Ben Connors (Cornafest Fred) or Carla Williamson (Rockon Pedro) give their senior counterparts a good run.

To launch the event, the Irish Horse Board are generously sponsoring the welcome reception, which will kick off a very busy few days. The event itself will stage 10 classes as well as the two very supported HSI Discovery classes for four and five-year-olds. There will cross-country action on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, leading up to the show jumping long format sessions on the final day. The timetable can be found on the Millstreet website or on Eventing Ireland.