IN this strangest of years, sponsorship for equestrian competitions has been hard to find so it was very much a good news story when Show Jumping Ireland announced that, for the second year running, The Underwriting Exchange had agreed to sponsor the National 1.40m Grand Prix League and the league prizes to a total of €10,000.

Stephen O’Connor said: ‘’We are delighted to be sponsoring the National League as, without a doubt, it is a great stepping stone to the next level and has been a great springboard for young riders and junior riders in their preparation for their respective European Championships. I think it’s important that Ireland has a proper functioning National League and set-up which, hopefully, feeds into helping Michael Blake having a successful spell as manager of Ireland’s senior show jumping team (of which The Underwriting Exchange is joint-sponsor along with Devenish).

“It’s easy to sponsor and support business when times are good, but it is so important to try to give something back in these difficult pandemic times. And, this is not just with regard to sport, as I personally feel that, in these challenging times, it’s really important that business tries to help out society where possible.”

Eamon Rice, chairman of the SJI, said: “We are very happy that Stephen O’Connor and The Underwriting Exchange have stayed on board to support the National Grand Prix League. Riders can go out now and compete in the League knowing that there is a nice pot at the end of it.”

Action in the National 1.40m Grand Prix League starts tomorrow at Galway Equestrian Centre – see www.sji.ie.