THE FEI Jumping Ponies’ Trophy final was held in Mechelen, Belgium, on Saturday and, after fantastic Irish performances in the preceding legs, hopes were high for another Irish success… It happened, but not quite in the way anticipated.

This prestigious competition was held across four legs, at Herning, Lyon, Stuttgart and Salzburg, between October and December, prior to the final. The final itself was run across three testing competitions; a Table C competition on Wednesday, a Table A jump-off competition on Thursday and a two-round 1.35m Grand Prix on Saturday, December 30th.

In total, 15 combinations competed in the third final over two rounds; they jumped in reverse order, carrying penalties calculated from their performances in the previous two rounds.

Final leg

The pressure was on and clear rounds were hard to come by – Co Sligo’s Jack Cash started the first round of the third final in ninth place on six penalties, but managed to keep all the fences standing, incurring one time penalty in the process, bringing his total to seven. Co Wexford’s Lauren Adams started the final round on eight penalties and had two fences down to finish on 16.

Only two riders began the final round on a zero score, Co Limerick’s Kian Dore and Sweden’s Ellen Hammarstrom, while Germany’s Naomi Himmelreich on the Irish-owned stallion Red Star Optimus started on a score of one. Naomi was into the ring first of these three and jumped a foot-perfect clear round within the time to take over the top spot.

Kian Dore was in next. He had won two legs, at Lyon and Stuttgart, so was at the top of the leaderboard going into the final at Mechelen, however at the final, athletes start on zero points. Dore placed fifth in the first final and won the second, so held onto his pole position going into the third. However, things didn’t go his way and he finished the first round on 16 faults.

Ellen Hammarstrom had an unfortunate pole down to put her on a score of four faults and into second place behind Naomi. In the second round, Lauren Adams was in first. She jumped well, but had two unfortunate poles down. Kian Dore was due in next but withdrew. Jack Cash also rolled two poles to give him a final score of 15.

Intense pressure

Naomi and Red Star Optimus were last into the arena. Under intense pressure, they tipped a pole and it fell, to bring their score to five, but they jumped round the rest of the course clear and held onto the gold medal position. Red Star Optimus certainly showed star quality, jumping with great care over a tricky and demanding course. He is a chesnut Belgian Warmblood 147cm pony stallion, now 11 years old, owned by Co Kildare’s Feargal White, who was there with his daughter, Anna, to see the win.

Delighted

Following the competition, Feargal told The Irish Field: “We’re absolutely delighted! I needed to pinch myself. It was a huge track and Freddy, as he is affectionately known, was the smallest pony at just 147cm. Naomi is a super rider.”

When asked about how his pony came to have a German rider, Feargal explained that his daughter, Anna, finished in ponies last December (2022). She had done well in 128 and 138 classes and had a good 148 pony, Tankardstown Dreamer, on which she went on to win the six/seven-year-old 148 championship at Fontainebleau in 2022.

Anna was looking for another good 148 pony. She tracked down Freddy in early 2021 in Italy; he was a talented jumper and had jumped on Nations Cup teams. He was bred in Belgium by Stal Optimus; he was broken in Belgium and went to Italy as a four-year-old, where he was produced by Jesssica Laaghi, whom the Whites bought him from, during Covid, aged eight.

Talented

Freddy arrived from Italy and Anna rode him with great success – together, they were Irish National 148 Champions in 2021. In her final year of ponies, in 2022, they continued with their run of form, competing on the Irish team for the Home Ponies. They won the Grand Prix in Fontainebleau in 2022, among others.

Earlier this year, they were contemplating what to do with Freddy; they have a stud farm at the Curragh and they were thinking of standing him there. He was awarded Elite status in the Belgian Warmblood Studbook in March 2023.

They were contacted by a number of breeders in Ireland, the UK and mainland Europe, so they sent him to Mary McCann at Hartwell Stud (the home of Cruising) at Kill, Co Kildare, who collected semen for freezing – which they have available now.

Good match

In April, Feargal got a call from his friend, Gabriel Tunney. Good friends of his in Germany, the Himmelreich family, were looking for a pony for their daughter, Naomi. Gabriel knew she was a talented rider and thought they would be a good match.

The Whites put their faith in Gabriel’s judgement and packed Freddy off to Germany in May. Naomi and her mum, Luisa, got to work on him and the results started flowing in. The pair were champions in Aachen, Stuttgart, Munich, Hagen, and third in the World Cup qualifier in Stuttgart in November.

Anna decided the family should make the trip to Mechelen for Christmas to watch Naomi and Freddy at their last show – little did they think they would win the trophy.

Future plans

Feargal is currently developing Clunemore Lodge, a stud farm on the Curragh and hopes to stand Freddy there with frozen semen. Anna is continuing to produce young horses and is riding older horses at Young Rider level. Feargal said: “We will give the pony a rest and then decide what to do with him. He has been competing and consistently performing at the highest level – it’s so unusual for a pony to be this consistent at this level!

“Naomi lost her father in March 2023, so the success has been a great source of comfort for her – she dedicated her win to her dad. We are very grateful to Gabriel and to the Himmelreich family for allowing Freddy to continue to perform at the highest level. Dreams do come true... occasionally!” he concluded.