LAST year, two top-10 places in the World Breeding Federation for Sport Horses (WBFSH) rankings by the Irish Sport Horse studbook was a turning point. This year’s results eclipsed even that landmark result.

Retaining the WBFSH leading eventing studbook title for a second consecutive year and a leap up to sixth place on the show jumping leaderboard is a phenomenal achievement by this Irish-bred dozen.

Being the number one studbook in eventing is a familiar result for the ISH studbook. In fact, only three studbooks have overtaken the Irish since the WBFSH rankings first began in 1994. Third in 2021 to its constant rival, the Selle Français registry, the Irish studbook bounced back to its customary top place last year.

Holding a slim lead in the penultimate August rankings, it then took the top-10 results of the ‘Burghley pack’: Ballaghmor Class, Cavalier Crystal and Oughterard Cooley to secure another ISH title in 2023.

The combined results of these three five-star event horses, ranked second and equal 17th respectively in the WBFSH individual results, plus Rehy DJ (equal fourth), Black Ice (11th) and HSH Blake (20th), see all six finish amongst the top-20 this year, another outstanding result by Irish-breds.

Meanwhile, another exceptional year for Pacino Amiro has seen this 11-year-old rocket up the rankings over the past 12 months. He rose from 83rd place last year to fourth in the rankings released last week, one place ahead of last year’s WBFSH number one horse, King Edward.

That is a phenomenal achievement by the Donegal-bred and Bertram Allen, for whom the good news continued last week when the pair were ranked fifth in the latest FEI show jumping rankings.

Flexible individual

The previous highest individual result by an Irish Sport Horse in the WBFSH results? According to the WBFSH archives (from 2004 onwards) that was Flexible, sixth in 2012, the year of his World Cup win and London Olympics individual eighth place.

So, Pacino Amiro has eclipsed Flexible’s best result and joining him this year in the ISH crew are James Kann Cruz, another rewarded for another impressive year, which sees him jump from 37th place in 2022 right up to 12th place.

Also claiming a top-30 place is Up Too Jacco Blue (27th), followed by three 10-year-olds in Rincoola Milseán (48th), GRS Lady Amaro (81st) and BP Wakita (120th). Five Irish Sport Horses in the top-100 is a remarkable turnaround in Irish show jumping breeding fortunes, considering how just four years ago, the studbook finished 17th in these rankings.

The most recent best result for the ISH show jumping studbook? That was all of 19 years ago when the studbook stood in seventh place back in 2004 and when Athens Olympics hero Carling King (Clover Hill. Breeder: Dr Pat Geraghty) was the highest-placed Irish Sport Horse in individual 19th place.

Another traditional-bred Ballincoola (Highland King. Pat Keogh) was best of the Irish-bred eventers in seventh place that year.

Oliver Townend and Ballaghmor Class on cross-country at the Tokyo Olympic Games, where they were part of the gold medal-winning British team \ FEI/Christophe Taniére

Irish domination

Since then, while the ISH studbook continued to dominate eventing rankings, it did not fare quite so well in show jumping. Flexible (Cruising. Breeder: Catherine Doyle) was undoubtedly the star Irish-bred show jumping performer and, following his retirement, the studbook had faltered until this new wave of talent saw it rise to 10th place in the 2022 WBFSH rankings.

Incidentally, Cruising’s influence is still prominent amongst the Irish bloodlines, as he features as a damsire in four of this year’s horses: James Kann Cruz, Rincoola Milseán, BP Wakita and the sole traditional-bred amongst this year’s dozen: Cooley Oughterard.

The other two ‘C’s’ of the Irish sport horse world in the 1990s - Cavalier Royale and Clover Hill - still put their stamp on pedigrees. Rehy DJ, Cavalier Crystal and BP Wakita all feature Cavalier Royale in their back breeding, while Clover Hill appears in Pacino Amiro, James Kann Cruz and Rincoola Milseán’s pedigrees.

Right back up to the 21st century and a fitting tribute to the prematurely lost talent that was Pacino is the sight of two offspring - Pacino Amiro and BP Wakita - amongst the top-six Irish-bred show jumping horses. With a blend of continental and Irish bloodlines, the Irish Sport Horse team has battled its way back into contention in two sets of WBFSH rankings.

Best breeders

Bertram Allen and Pacino Amiro (ISH) at the FEI World Championships in Herning \ Tomas Holcbecher

This year’s outstanding result by the Irish Sport Horse teams is most of all a credit to the breeders, from various corners of the country, who began the success story. The Banner County leads the way in eventing breeding with three Claremen: Noel Hickey, Noel Russell and Gerard Lynch amongst this year’s group and Patrick Connolly and Justin Burke bring the Tribesmen tally to two amongst the dozen breeders.

Next week, we’ll take a closer look at the Irish-bred stars in WBFSH rankings history, most recently topped by the remarkable pair of the veteran star Ballaghmor Class and millionaire earner Pacino Amiro.

Did you know

  • The WBFSH rankings first began in 1994. Its calendar year starts on October 1st and runs through September 30th. Points won in FEI competitions count towards the final results. The studbook category is based on the combined points earned by the top-six performers of member studbooks.
  • TSF Dalera BB is the only horse to retain her number one place as both of the other top horses from the 2022 rankings - King Edward and fischerChipmunk - were succeeded by Donatello D’Auge and Galileo Nieuwmoed.
  • Julien Epaillard’s Monaco Grand Prix winner Donatello D’Auge (SF) was bred by his wife Susana Epaillard Garcia Cereceda.
  • J.W & A.P Jurrius bred this year’s number one event horse Galileo Nieuwmoed. Sadly, it is a posthumous leading dressage award for Silke Druckenmüller (45) as TSF Dalera BB’s breeder passed away last month.
  • Donatello D’Auge’s Global Champions Tour win also placed the Selle Français studbook at the top of the show jumping studbook leaderboard, succeeding last year’s titleholder: Belgium’s BWP.
  • The Irish Sport Horse (eventing) and KWPN (dressage) both retained their 2022 leading studbook crowns.
  • A record unbeaten run by the ISH eventing studbook was broken by the Hannoverian studbook in 2010 and then twice by the Selle Français (2014, 2021) and KWPN (2018, 2020).
  • This is the second year that Conor Swail has piloted a WBFSH top-three horse with Count Me In (third) last year and now Theo 160 (second).
  • Monaco N.O.P is the only other show jumping horse, alongside King Edward, to retain his top-10 place from last year.
  • Two top-10 event horses have Olympic show jumpers in their families: Galileo Nieuwmoed’s dam Sjaloma is a half-sister to Eddie Macken’s Atlanta horse FAN Schalkhaar and London 52’s damline is linked to Heritage Fortunus, competed at Athens by Marion Hughes.
  • The Trakehner stallion Easy Game and Quaterback (Berlin-Brand) each have two top-10 dressage offspring. Diarado (like Pacino, a Diamant de Semilly son) is the only other sire with two offspring in this year’s WBFSH top-10: the show jumping horses Dexter Fontenis Z and Donatello 141.
  • Only the KWPN, Hannoverian, Westfalian, Deutsches Sportpferde (DSP) and Holsteiner studbooks appear in all three top-10 leaderboards for dressage, eventing and show jumping.

    • By the numbers

    23,651 - best overall score across all three sports by one studbook: the KWPN.

    1,333 - extra FEI points earned by the ISH show jumping horses this year, compared to 2022’s total.

    37 - points between a closely-bunched group of show jumping horses, from second-ranked Theo 160 to Landon (seventh).

    26 - points separated the Irish Sport Horse studbook from the Selle Français runners-up in the eventing title race.

    Six - Irish Sport Horses among the top-20 event horses of 2023.

    Five - Irish Sport Horses among the top-100 show jumping horses of 2023.

    Four - German studbooks: Deutsche Sport Pferde (DSP), Hannoverian Verband, Holsteiner Verband and Westfalian, plus the KWPN, are the only studbooks to feature across the three sporting categories.

    Three - Banner County breeders amongst the top-six ISH event horses: Noel Hickey, Noel Russell and Gerard Lynch.

    Two - Ballaghmor Class’ end result on the event horse leaderboard in 2023, having also been the highest-placed ISH (third) in the 2019 rankings.

    One - Mr Medicott, a recent loss to the eventing world, was the most recent number one ranked Irish Sport Horse when he topped the 2012 WBFSH event horse results. Another Cruising offspring, he was bred by Dr Donal Geaney.