THE annual Irish Horse World awards took place today (Monday) at the K Club in Straffan, Co Kildare where the stars of the sport in 2024 were honoured and Francis Derwin Jnr was named overall Star of the Year.

The Irish Field gave out awards in five categories – Dressage rider of the year, Senior Event rider of the year, Junior event rider of the year, Senior show jumper of the year and the Junior event rider of the year.

Some 12 awards were also presented to the monthly winners of The Irish Field/Gain Equine Nutrition Star of the Month awards.

Francis Derwin Jnr and Flexi K (ISH) were part of the gold medal-winning young rider team at the FEI European Championships \ Tomas Holcbecher

SENIOR SHOW JUMPER: DANIEL COYLE

For the second year in-a-row, Daniel Coyle is The Irish Field Senior Show Jumper of the Year. Daniel had an incredibly consistent record at the highest level in 2024, with 13 victories and 29 podium in FEI competitions. Eight of those wins came at five-star level and include World Cup victories in Leipzig and Amsterdam with the great Legacy, as well as five-star wins in Dublin, London and Rotterdam with Incredible, and Toronto and Calgary with Farrel. Another big victory was four-star World Cup in Ocala with Incredible.

Daniel was part of the winning team at the Longines League of Nations in Ocala aboard Legacy and the mare went on to be crowned the ‘Horse of the League of Nations’ for the most double clears.

Not forgetting the Olympic Games in Paris where Daniel and Legacy wowed the nation with three incredible clear rounds over the first three days of jumping.

Daniel Coyle Incredible winners of the Cashel Palace Hotel Stakes dublin horse show 2024 \ Laurence Dunne jumpinaction.net

JUNIOR SHOW JUMPER: FRANCIS DERWIN

20-year-old Francis Derwin Jnr took the international show jumping scene by storm in 2024 with an incredible list of results, culminating in a team gold and individual silver medal at the FEI Young Rider European Championships in Kronenberg aboard the Irish Sport Horse Flexi K who is owned by his father, Francis Snr.

Among the other highlights of the year was a fabulous five-star international win on the opening day of the Dublin Horse Show with Parvati AEG, and a four-star 1.50m win in Morocco with Flexi K. With Parvati AEG, Francis went on to win his first three-star Grand Prix in vejer de la Frontera in November, before rounding out the year with an Under 25 win at the prestigious CHI Geneva.

Lucy Latta, Irish Horse World Senior Event Rider of the Year for 2024 \ Lorraine O'Sullivan

SENIOR EVENT RIDER: LUCY LATTA

From just a small number of runs in 2024, Lucy Latta has earned herself the award of senior event rider of the year, down to her phenomenal second place finish at the Mars Badminton Horse Trials in May. Riding the Lesley Crampton-owned Irish Sport Horse RCA Patron Saint, the pair took their first five-star and Badminton by storm when climbing 43 places on the leader board to land the best finishing place at the event in 59 years, just missing out on victory by two penalty points.

27-year-old Lucy balances working full-time with competing a small number of event horses and proved she has what it takes to compete at the highest level.

Tom Nestor, Irish Horse World Junior Event Rider of the Year for 2024 \ Lorraine O'Sullivan

JUNIOR EVENT RIDER: TOM NESTOR

Eighteen-year-old Tom Nestor has a season to remember in 2024, culminating in a team and individual silver medal at the FEI European Eventing Championships for Juniors in Strzegom aboard the Irish Sport Horse Cooley Diamond Dancer.

That combination started the year in wonderful form, winning the CCI2*-L at Ballindenisk International as well as the EI115 at both Lisgarvan and Kilguilkey House. Those results secured his place on the junior team where he went on to take the individual silver medal, just 2.2 penalties behind Germany’s Hannah Busch.

Tom also enjoyed plenty of success on both the national and international circuit with the Irish Sport Horse Coolafancy. The pair were runner-up in Ash Hollow and Clyda before finishing out the season with second place in the CCIJ2*-S at Charlbury International.

Sarah Slattery with her daughter Millie, age 18 months, on day nine of the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games at Château de Versailles in Paris \ Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile

DRESSAGE RIDER: SARAH SLATTERY

Sarah Slattery (34) has taken the para dressage world by storm over the last 24 months and has risen to number 10 in the latest Grade V world rankings. Sarah only made her championship debut in 2023, sitting up on her mount Savona for the first time five weeks after giving birth to her second child and four months before the 2023 Europeans Championship in Riesenbeck. Since then, a continual improvement in scores into the 2024 season saw them selected for the Paralympic debut in Paris.

Sarah delivered for team Ireland in Paris with a team score of 68.895% which would see Ireland complete in 10th place. With just a couple of hours to prepare after the last-minute call-up for the Grade V Freestyle final, Sarah and Savona delivered the test of their lives on the biggest para dressage sporting stage in the world, scoring 71.795% to move up to seventh place.

The Gain Equine Nutrition/The Irish Field star of the month award recipients at the Irish Horse World Awards 2024 \ Lorraine O'Sullivan

GAIN EQUINE NUTRITION STAR OF THE MONTH AWARDS

JANUARY

Kilkenny breeder Marguerite Ryan was the January Star of the month thanks to BBS McGregor, the 12-year-old gelding she bred and owned until the end of 2023.

This superb horse helped the United Arab Emirates team to win the four-star Nations Cup in Sharjah with Abdullah Mohd Al Marri in the saddle. BBS McGregor (ISH) jumped double clear and the UAE team finished on a zero score.

With her son Jack, BBS McGregor enjoyed many wins from 2017 and were chosen to represent Ireland in a number of Nations Cup teams. The horse was sold and went on to represent the UAE at the Paris Olympic Games last summer.

FEBRUARY

Oisin McDonagh (14) was the Star of the Month for February. McDonagh had a great month, particularly in combined training competitions, where he scored two second placings at the second leg of the Eventing Ireland Western Region starter series league.

McDonagh performed even better at the third leg of the league, when scoring a double – winning the EI80 class with Milchem Twilight, as well as the EI90 class with Full Moon Magic. At the conclusion of the league, McDonagh and Milchem Twilight were runners up in the EI80 class while he and Full Moon Magic were the victors in the EI90 league.

Sean Monaghan and EMS Adelaide won in Vejer de la Frontera

MARCH

Sean Monaghan was the GAIN Equine Nutrition/The Irish Field Star of the Month for March.

Monaghan made his presence felt at the Andalucia Sunshine Tour in Vejer de la Frontera, Spain, during the course of the month where he scored a victory and a number of placings with the horses Tiberio Della Caccia, Coco Du Rona Z and Cornet Clover Girl.

Sean is on his way to the Sunshine Tour but his mother Mary is here to collect his award.

APRIL

The Under 14 Children On Horses 1.25m Nations Cup team who were victorious at Compiegne, France, were the Star of the Month recipients for April. The team was made up of Charlie Flynn from Tipperary, Ted Fagan from Westmeath, Robbie Sheehan from Kilkenny, Sam Widger from Waterford and Daisy O’Dea from Clare. Afterwards, team manger James Kernan praised the fighting spirit of the team and a brilliant win.

MAY

Irish event rider Lucy Latta was voted the Gain Equine Nutrition Star for the month of May, following her incredible second place finish at the Badminton Horse Trials with RCA Patron Saint (ISH). At her first ever five-star, Latta produced the fastest cross-country time of the day, which meant she climbed a massive 43 places after the dressage phase up to third place. The show jumping was tough and saw very few clear rounds; two fences down still saw Latta climb another place to take the runner-up spot. It was Ireland’s best result at the venue in 59 years.

JUNE

Lily Tunney from Co Fermanagh was the Star of the Month for June. Tunney, aged 14, and her pony Fireman were selected for the Irish pony show jumping team to compete at the Future Champions show in Hagen, Germany where they were part of the winning Irish team before going on to win the prestigious CSIOP Pony Grand Prix for the second year.

JULY

Ian Cassells was voted Star of the Month for July. Cassells was part of the winning Irish Nations Cup eventing team at Millstreet in June and was also on the team that finished third at CHIO Aachen. At Aachen, Ian Cassells and Millridge Atlantis had the second-best Irish dressage score and was best of the Irish across the country incurring just 3.2 time penalties and finishing up 11th individually.

AUGUST

JUNIOR eventer Tom Nestor was the Star of the Month for August. Nestor won the individual European silver medal on board Cooley Diamond Dancer (ISH), after a fantastic weekend of eventing action at the FEI European Championships in Stzregom, Poland.

Nestor and his teammates Matthew Love, Alex Connors and Oleana Cowan also brought home team silver. Tom was also responsible for Ireland’s only long format victory at the May Ballindenisk International when the 17-year-old kept a cool head throughout to pressure overnight leaders Bill Levett and Weston General and clinch victory with a clear on the final day.

Carolyn Mellor and Ballett's Bellissima at the DAFM Studbook Series final at CoilÓg \ Louise O'Brien Photography

SEPTEMBER

Co Down dressage rider Carolyn Mellor was voted Star of the Month for September after she was crowned the Irish national dressage champion at Ballindenisk riding VSH Gouverneur M, while she also won four more titles at the venue. The big title was thanks to a score of 66.63% with her thirteen-year-old KWPN gelding.

OCTOBER

Young rider Tom Wachman was voted the October Star of the Month. Wachman was nominated following his first ever three-star Grand Prix win in Valencia. Tom was riding the nine-year-old Tabasco De Toxandria who had just recently returned to Coolmore Showjumping and they showed their class when galloping to victory.

NOVEMBER

Francis Derwin Jnr was voted Star of the Month for November. Francis was nominated after winning a 1.55m three-star Grand Prix in Vejer de la Frontera with Parvati AEG. In August, Francis won team gold and individual silver at the Young Rider European Championships with Flexi K.

Francis was also the overall winner of the 2024 GAIN/Alltech National Grand Prix League. Over the various stages of the league, Francis demonstrated remarkable talent secured 6 wins

DECEMBER

James Derwin (16) was voted Star of the Month for December after great success at the four-star show in Salzburg, Austria where he won two classes among other placings.

Derwin won the Amadeus Pony Trophy 1.25m Grand Prix on the Sunday and the Amadeus Pony Trophy 1.20m class on the Friday with Milchem Original, while on the Thursday, the pair had claimed second place in the Amadeus Pony Trophy 1.15m class. The rider also placed sixth in the FEI Pony Trophy Opening 1.30m class with Rincoola Babog and went on to take the runner-up spot in Saturday’s FEI Pony Trophy 1.35m Grand Prix of Salzburg. What a brilliant conclusion to a very successful pony career.

OVERALL STAR OF THE YEAR: FRANCIS DERWIN