TREVOR Breen’s home-bred gelding Highland President has been sold and will be seen in the future under Irish Olympic medallist Cian O’Connor.

The 11-year-old gelding by Clinton out of the Kannan mare Kannabella was bred in Britain by Breen and his wife Caroline alongside her parents, Ian and Heather Black, who owned the horse until the sale. This year saw the combination score multiple top placings at five-star level, culminating in a team silver medal at the FEI European Championships in Milan and a superb clear in the Longines FEI Nations Cup final on October 1st.

“It has been a privilege for us to breed and produce Archie. He’s such an intelligent horse and always willing to learn and fights like a lion in the ring,” Breen said.

“Both myself and Caroline were the main people to ride him at home his whole life and I was the only one who ever competed him, to produce him to this top level is something we are so proud of.”

The pair were clear in the first round of the Longines Grand Prix of Ireland at the Dublin Horse Show in August, finishing in fifth place. They also finished fourth in the five-star LGCT Grand Prix of Riesenbeck and fifth in the LGCT Grand Prix of La Coruna.

The talented bay has been purchased by Lisa and Pat Crean and will now be ridden by Co Meath-based Cian O’Connor. Speaking to The Irish Field about the horse, O’Connor commented: “Obviously I’ve followed the development of Highland President closely over the past few seasons. Trevor has been so patient with him and has given him the most perfect upbringing right to the very top.

“His results this year have been so good culminating in a special clear at Barcelona a few weeks ago and thanks to Lisa and Pat Crean I was able to secure him this week.

“Luckily, at Karlswood this year trade has been very good and we have sold several of our top horses enabling us to re-invest in new prospects. Additionally, some of our existing partners and new ones have teamed up with us to purchase a brilliant group of horses that we can develop and trade going forward.”

O’Connor added: “I plan to get used to Highland President and some of the new mounts in Spain over the next few weeks and the plan is to build up to Florida in January.”