FOR many, the highlight of the 2026 Gallagher Dublin Horse Show will be the crowning of the TopSpec supreme hunter champion in the Laya Arena next Saturday morning. Only a chosen few will get to gallop on the hallowed turf however with most of the action taking place earlier in the week in Ring 2.

The lightweights will first come under scrutiny on Thursday morning when Britain’s Zara Owen and Patrick Lobb start judging the four-year-old geldings at 8am. Last year’s weight champion, the Legaland Darco bay Bannside Dancer, came from the six-year-old and upwards geldings’ class, in which he is again entered but, this time, in the ownership of his rider, Jamie Smyth.