KELLEY Hutchinson flew back into Ireland on Tuesday following a rewarding few days in Maryland where she had less interest in the inaugural five-star event at Fair Hill than in the East Coast championships for four- and five-year-old young event horses which were held simultaneously.

When speaking to the Irish Horse World following her victory in the prestigious Michael Leonard EI105 championship for five- and six-year-olds at Ballindenisk International (2) last month on HSH Limited Edition, Hutchinson had mentioned this upcoming cross-Atlantic trip to support HSH graduates.

As it turned out, there were seven in the young event horse classes, all ridden by Caroline Martin who also partnered HSH Vamonos to finish eighth of 50 in the CCI3*-L, disappointingly dropping from third overnight with two fences down show jumping.

The Zangersheide gelding, who competed in three six-year-old internationals here in 2019 when campaigned by Britain’s Emily King, was purchased by Hutchinson in the summer of 2020 and made his American debut under Martin in Florida the following January. He has finished in the top six in three of his other four FEI starts at three-star level this season.

“I was very lucky to start riding and being involved in buying and selling horses and ponies from a very early age,” said the 26-year-old Co Kilkenny native as she recalled her journey so far. “My parents, Oliver and Margaret, have always supported me, first through the Pony Club and then through Eventing Ireland from ponies up and I was on two Irish teams at European Young Riders Championships. I was also lucky enough to compete at the 2016 World University Equestrian Championships in Sweden from which I took home a team and individual silver medal.”

On a squad which included first and second in the CCI2*-L at that final Ballindenisk event of the season, Tori Dixon and Ian Cassells, Hutchinson was at that time attending Maynooth University where she studied Equine Business. On graduating in September 2017, and again with the support of her family, she established the brand Hutchinson Sport Horses. “I feel very lucky at my age to have made some great connections,” continued Kelley.

“Young horses are a passion of mine and I love nothing more than watching them progress and develop. In Ireland, I follow all of the young horse classes – both show jumping and eventing. Seeing a horse I believed in reach its potential with a new rider is as much a win for me as collecting the red rosette myself.

“I first met Caroline (Martin) in 2016 when she bought one of my most promising horses at the time, Cristano Z. I had competed him to intermediate level and she took over the ride and ended up competing to four-star and jumping 1.50m with him. Since then we have always had a great relationship both as close friends and, more recently, as business partners. We have the utmost respect for, and trust in, each other.”

HSH always flies their horses with EIS (Equine International Shipping) and Horseflight, the latter company being owned by Emil Spadone at whose Redfield Farm (bi-located in New Jersey and Florida) Martin is based.

“Caroline has followed very much the same path with the younger horses in the US as we have here and has had massive success which I think is a credit to the greater team involved as they campaign in extremely competitive divisions. They have around 10 qualifiers in which you need to attain a certain score to qualify and, even then, only the top 50 horses are invited to compete at the championships.

“In 2019, I flew over to help ride some of the young horses at the finals and gained several placings. Fair Hill is an amazing venue for the championships as it has so much to offer and was even more so this year with the influx of top-level riders for the five-star throwing their eye over some of the future stars.

“Last year, Caroline rode the winner of both the four-year-old and five-year-old championships on two horses sourced from us who were both bred in Co Galway by Justin Burke.

“The older of the pair, Galwaybay Blake (by Tolan R out of Doughiska Lass, by Kannan) was produced beautifully in amateur classes here in 2019 by Mary Mangan. Since winning the five-year-old championship, he has since gone on to win or place second in all five of his FEI starts this season.

“We purchased the 2020 four-year-old champion, Galwaybay HSH Connor (by Connor 48 out of Galwaybay Merstona, by Mermus R), directly from Justin as a three-year-old and produced him here until last spring. He went on to win his first FEI start this season and was reserve champion last week in the five-year-old young event horse championship.

“I was delighted that I could get over to Fair Hill last week and the effort proved well worthwhile when HSH Best Kept Secret (by Adieu Z out of Ringwood Sunny Clover, by Sunny Boy), who I co-own with Caroline, was crowned the 2021 four-year-old champion. We bought him straight from his breeder, Aoife Leonard.

“Besides being associated with one champion and a reserve, it was great to meet so many owners and riders of Irish Sport Horses in the young horse classes. As he did last season, Co Mayo-born Tim Bourke, who has been living in the US for a good few years now, finished reserve to Caroline in the four-year-old championship on an ISH gelding, Undercover Quality (by Chacoa out of KEC Safari, by Aldatus Z). There were any number of Irish Sport Horses in both FEI three-star and five-star competitions.

Caroline Martin pats HSH Best Kept Secret after being crowned the four-year-old champion at Fair Hill, USA. The horse was bred by Aoife Leonard

Future looks bright

“With a busy yard at home, I’m excited for the future. We love to buy direct from breeders, so have horses from yearlings upwards, as well as finding something already out competing in whom we see potential. We have bought from sales as well and this year I have one three-year-old, HSH Talbots Hill (Lot 104), in the Monart sale. A stunning grey gelding by Coolkeeran, he was bred by my uncle and aunt, Pat and Lucinda Hutchinson, out of a thoroughbred mare by Dalakhani.

“I have six exciting competition horses in work at present, who will be aimed at the remaining two legs of the Horse Sport Ireland autumn development series, and a similar number of super exciting three-year-olds. They are being broken-in and will tentatively be aimed at four-year-old event and jumper classes next season.

“I’ll be at home in Kilkenny until the New Year and then I will start my season in Ocala, Florida competing and working! Usually I stay Stateside until about March time so I hit home for the beginning of the Irish event season. While my sister Olivia went into primary school teaching, I’m very lucky that my brother Tom is a great help with the young horses which allows me get out and about to meet prospective clients.”

Ballindenisk International 2021: Kelley Hutchinson (HSH Limited Edition) winner of the Michael Leonard five and six-year-old Championships \ Equus Pix Photography