KATE Jarvey, the ecstatic breeder of Colorado Blue, Austin O’Connor’s winning Maryland five-star ride was still on ‘cloud nine’ when she spoke to The Irish Field after the pair’s historic win.

“I set out long ago to see if I could breed an event horse type, not a five-star winner, but an athletic type and I spent years trying and learning, using embryo transfers, with some good horses and some bad,” she said.

“Saltie’s dam (Kalifornia Blue), Austin had her and she got an injured knee and he said to me ‘this will be the best broodmare you will ever have’ and I didn’t heed him at first but he was right, she has been. So in a way it was a plan, it wasn’t random, but you have to be lucky - and patient.

“As a young horse, Saltie seemed very nice, not exceptional and, as per my breeding programme, he was sold to the Saltie Syndicate one of whom is Jill Watson, who as it happens, was the first person to bring me to England to go eventing.

“We watched him progress through the years and he was not a knockout ‘wow’ horse initially. It was when he got to nine or 10 that he started to become a very special horse and that’s typical of an Irish horse, it’s actually a strength that they mature later, but you have to be patient and thankfully that is what Austin is.

“I knew after Badminton this year that Austin and Saltie’s five-star was out there, you could see it written all over them.

“It’s a lifetime achievement for him and for me and I couldn’t be happier, I keep waking up with a huge silly grin on my face.

Kate Jarvey, breeder of Colorado Blue, and Siobhan Madden at Charleville \ Susan Finnerty

“I wanted it so much for Austin, no-one has grafted as much as him, he has always been a top class sporting gentleman and he deserved it. And it stands to reason too, Saltie has never been out of professional hands his entire life and that’s why he has so much trust in Austin; when he asks him for something, he gives it.

“The most important thing here is that we have shown the world ‘here’s what Irish horses and Irish eventers can do’.

“The entire equestrian community should see this as a major positive, it belongs to all of us, and it’s proof positive of what we can do.”

Based at Moneymusk Stud in North Cork, Jarvey is now retired, but says her next project is to dig out the old photos of Saltie as a foal, who was born jet black, to frame along with all of the headlines he has garnered this week.

Turn to page 91 to read about how the incredible win unfolded.