THE dream job as boss of one of Europe’s leading state-of-the-art show jumping breeding yards is that of Newry rider Eoin Gallagher at Oakingham Stud in Newbury, Berkshire.

Recent success in the Chard Equestrian Grand Prix on Faltic HB was a superb start to the 2021 season for ecstatic Eoin who has the unique privilege of having a jumping team which competes progeny from their own mares and high end stallions.

An epicentre of breeding Grand Prix horses, Oakingham Stud leaves no stone unturned in producing stars of the future where high performance mares are prized, and world class performance sires ensure the team has winning progeny to take on the world.

Sporting the electric blue riding jacket of Oakingham Stud, Eoin with 65 jumping horses, eight riders and 10 stable staff heads up a professional yard which combines training, competition and breeding on site which boasts around 200 horses.

Eoin and his brother Lorcan - the sons of Eddie and Deirdre Gallagher, who earned their stripes as teenagers in the Iveagh Pony Club, Co Down and both worked for Dermott Lennon at Ballinaskeagh Banbridge - are now heading up top teams in two continents.

Eoin explained: “Our family weren’t into horses at all, both sides of our family were footballers. But our next door neighbour was taking lessons at our local riding school in Mayobridge, so at aged seven, I thought I would give it a go.

“After a couple of years, Lorcan and I started to compete locally at agricultural shows and following a few pony upgrades, we joined the Iveagh Pony Club. Through the pony club, I had my first trip to Hickstead for the All England Pony Club jumping championships which we won under the trainer Mickey McCann and DC Vanne Campbell. Looking back, that is when I caught the real showjumping bug.”

Eoin recalls: “It was living close to world champion Dermott Lennon at Ballinaskeagh, we were both either side of the A1 motorway, which resulted in me getting a job for two and a half years. I learned more than I imagined possible and Dermott became a close friend and mentor, he was the most important influence on my career.

“At Dermott’s I realised after a few months that I had no idea how to ride properly and needed to change my ways if I were to progress.”

Both Lorcan and Eoin were dedicated to their sport with Lorcan moving to the USA in 2012 and Eoin relocating to England in 2010.

Deirdre recalls her two boys and their love for show jumping. “I am delighted to see them turning their passion into a career. I never thought when we were loading the trailer for pony club that some day both would be international riders in two continents. We keep up to date on the livestream from shows and enjoy going to Wellington and shows in England. It would be lovely some day to see both brothers on the same Nations Cup team for Ireland. We keep in contact regularly and were delighted that they both had wins the same week this month in England and California.”

During his time in Lincoln, Eoin won many events and came to the attention of Oakingham Stud owned by the Ray family, who are now ranked one of the top 20 studs in Europe by Hippomundo.

Timing is everything according to Eoin. “It was approaching autumn/winter 2018 and I had sold many of the sales horses on my yard and a few of my clients had returned to university and school.

“Business was getting quiet and the timing to move to Oakingham was perfect. I was already in England when Lorcan moved to the States. I knew it was an exciting opportunity for him, and it turned out to be a brilliant move. He has worked hard and had great success ever since.”

Eoin Gallagher in action with Flugel M (Cornet Obolensky x Cardento)

The dedicated work ethic was instilled into the Gallagher boys by their parents. “Oakingham approached at the perfect time,” admitted Eoin. “If it had been six months earlier or later, things might have been more difficult but the time was right and so I moved down to Berkshire bringing a couple of my young horses with me. The rest is history.”

2021 hasn’t gotten off the smoothest start. “I was just packed up and ready to head to Spain when the Equine Herpes situation happened. With Brexit and Covid and then EHV we re-scheduled.”

The Oakingham show jumping team for this year is strong. “I feel I have a very strong team of horses, I have six aged between eight and 11-year-olds, and some very good younger horses. I hope to spend a lot of time in Europe eventually to promote the Oakingham horses for breeding and sales.

“My main aim is to find form internationally and to represent Ireland on Nations Cups. 2020 started well up until February lockdown with sales strong within the UK and Europe. We also sold some to the USA in early 2020. I enjoyed being at home with my son Oscar (4) giving him quality time. I was also able to ride and concentrate on the young horses and focus on training and development.”

Eoin is committed to the breeding philosophy at Oakingham who invested in foals with popular and successful bloodlines in the early days. “Many went on to jump Grand Prix which we now compete, or have sold on.”

Eoin’s top horses are Faltic HB, an 11-year-old stallion by Baltic VDL out of a Concorde dam, a full-sister to the 1.60m mare Orient Express.

Irish breeders are also dedicated Oakingham customers with a selection of foals due in Ireland by Faltic HB, Care For by Careful (Contender x For Pleasure) and Saint Thomas (Care For x out of the 1.50m mare Toska) out of exciting broodmares,” revealed Eoin.

A typical day begins at 7am. “I set the daily exercise list each morning. We have 65 in work currently with eight riders in total. The Irish riders are Fiona Cooper from Cookstown and Tadhg Kearney from Carlow. I will then set some exercises, canter poles and distances to work the horses through. Their routine varies each day with flatwork and polework, lunge or long rein.

“We also do hillwork in the fields or work on the gallops, since we have our own six-furlong uphill all weather gallop.”

International circuit

Dreaming of getting back on the circuit is an everyday occurrence for most yards, Eoin loves Aachen and Hicktead, “and on smaller scale Beervelde, the Flanders horse event is brilliant. It has it all, but it’s difficult to overlook Dublin as my number one.”

This year Eoin plans for Hickstead, Bolesworth and Bicton Summer Tour and competed at the Irish Masters, televised on RTÉ last December, where he finished sixth on Faltic HB. “I was delighted to get an invite to the four-star at Gorla Minore near Milan where I am for two weeks.”

A great supporter of Balmoral Show, Eoin plans to return this year. “Balmoral is ideal for seven, eight and nine-year-old horses for experience in a top class arena.”

With the breeding season in full swing at Oakingham, the stud’s 30 mares are putting first class foals on the ground from their Grand Prix stallions Flugel M, a grey by Cornet Obolensky out of a Cardento mare, Faltic HB by Baltic VDL/Concorde mare and Care For by Careful by Contender out of For Pleasure dam.

Nations Cup dreams

Eoin’s great ambition is to be with Lorcan on a Nations’ Cup team.

“Being together on a team would be a dream, it would be a proud day for the family, but lots of things need to come together to allow it to happen, but it could be a possibility in the next couple of seasons.”

Show jumping restarted in England during April, up to then it had been a drought. “We have done unaffiliated shows and training days as some of the young horses hadn’t been out since November and it was a good opportunity to warm them up. We had three wins in Keysoe at 1.40m with Flugel, 1.30m with Oakingham Sterling and a win for Faltic HB.

“I would like to thank everyone for their kind messages when we won in Chard and to Oakingham for providing me with fantastic horses.”

Little Oscar Gallagher (4)

Training expertise

Tipperary native Michael Quirke has been invaluable to Eoin as trainer. “Michael is based in Hickstead with Shane Breen for a few years now and has been a brilliant help to me since mid 2020. Michael has helped unlock an extra gear in the horses and is a great mentor to me now.

“I was privileged to get invited to the Irish Masters, and I think it was a tremendous effort on behalf of everyone to make it happen. The general consensus of the riders is that it could grow into some kind of televised winter championship or end of year finale.

“Everybody who texted and called me were so complimentary, how well it came across on television and how educated everyone was in the commentary side of it. To have Alan Wade home to course build the week before Christmas, it really was a world class standard. This was summed up by the top three - Shane, Dermot and Denis.

“I had been to Hasslehof in Belgium the week before the Masters for a warm-up indoors. Faltic was in great form, he has a super canter and a great brain. Time was a factor, I was able to watch a few go, trusting the horse to jump the first round and see how we would fare up in the jump-off. One down left us in sixth and a good pay cheque of €900.

“It was a great result to end the season, we had been in Spain and with interrupted season and little did we know we would not see a show until April.”

Learning curve

Lockdown has been a learning curve for many riders. Eoin admitted: “If anything it has made people think about the structure of their business. We need to be multi-dimensional and have a programme that supports that. We are lucky at the stud we are not just reliable on sales. Oakingham has semen sales which last year grew through Covid. More people are breeding on embryos from their good mares.

“In another two or three years, you will see an influx of good foals from mares who hadn’t bred before but are still out there competing. We have Babou Derek (Careful by Contender x For Pleasure) who has five foals by surrogates and one which she carried naturally.”

Oakingham Stud is certainly a force to be reckoned and Eoin’s ambition is that it grows and diversifies. “Not only do we breed, produce and sell horses for amateurs and professionals, we have also welcomed several pupils to the stud recently for training and competition.

“This is something I hope to expand further and in the near future.”