WANT to watch event rider Sam Watson beat the pants of Davy Russell? Or the other way round?

Next Thursday evening, December 16th, Ireland’s top jockeys and equestrian stars compete against each other in the inaugural Pro/Celeb Show Jumping Challenge at Emerald Equestrian Centre in Meath. The evening will celebrate the versatility of former racehorses and thoroughbreds; it is organised by Treo Eile, (meaning another direction) Ireland’s new organisation set up to encourage the retraining of racehorses and a live stream will be available on the Facebook page @treoeile.

Big names from the racetrack including Davy Russell, Joseph O’Brien, Bryan Cooper, Patrick Mullins and Katie Walsh will battle it out over coloured poles against those from the sport horse world.

Olympians

Olympian event riders Sam Watson and Cathal Daniels alongside top riders Elizabeth Power and Susan Fitzpatrick will take the reins on some of Ireland’s leading retrained racehorses.

We wonder if hot-shot jockey Oisin Murphy will jet in to support? He has been doing some show jumping in Oliva, Valencia, Spain recently jumping in the one-star classes, Oisin teams up with Richard Howley, the Irish show jumper based in England and they are good buddies.

Douvan

Not to be missed will be a parade of former racehorses such as Douvan, Faugheen and Sizing John along with General Principle. Refreshments will be on hand and some family fun includes an opportunity to meet your heroes – those with both four legs and two!

The parade starts at 5pm, with the team show jumping at 6pm. Each team will be captained by a jockey with two professional event riders who will all ride former racehorses. Then a young rider will complete the team on a speedy pony. Fastest team wins the day! On the undercard, Clipper Logistics is sponsoring an 80cm class for thoroughbreds and there’s also the Overlander Pony Discovery with a great prize fund of €1,500, along with other equine-related rewards.

Tickets are €10 per family and the main event commences at 5.30pm.

For more information check posts on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, www.treoeile.com.