WATERFORD show jumper Peter Moloney has joined Enda Carroll’s Ashford Farm in Bocholt, Belgium.

Moloney, who made his senior championship debut last summer, makes the move to Belgium following a number of years riding for HRH Princess Haya’s Team Harmony show jumping stable in England. “I am delighted to make the move,” Moloney told The Irish Field on Thursday. “Everyone in Ashford Farm is very ambitious and I am very ambitious, and I have a nice blend of horses to stay at the top level.

“I am only here the last three weeks. We did a little national show last week to get to know the horses and I have a really nice bunch between experienced horses and some really exciting younger ones. It is a fantastic yard with fantastic facilities and is known throughout the world.”

Moloney’s time working for Princess Haya came to a natural end, he explained, as her family dispute brought an end to Team Harmony. The horse Moloney shot to fame with in 2019, the 12-year-old stallion Chianti’s Champion, has moved to Ludger Beerbaum’s stable. “I had a fantastic couple of years with Princess Haya and we still remain close friends. I got some fantastic chances and gained a lot of experience,” he added.

Enda Carroll is delighted to welcome Moloney to the Ashford Farm team. “I have followed him for years, back to the time he was with Peter Charles. But in the last year I have really respected how good he was with a lack of experience and to be able to deliver at that high level,” Carroll said.

“My stable is more about producing to sell, which I am also excited to do with him and looking forward to him producing the horses. He will ride a select group of horses and produce them to the highest level of their ability.”

Carroll is proud to have an Irish rider in his stable. “I’d love to be on an Irish team as an Irish owner. We have two horses at the level – Carreau of Greenhill Z and Like A Diamond Van Het Schaeck – but it’s hard to know this year what high-level shows will be available. Our horses all went to Spain at the beginning of the year so we are trained, fit and ready to go the minute something happens.”

Irishmen Ciaran Flynn and Jack O’Donohue are also part of the team. “I have never had an Irish rider and now I have three at the same time. Ciaran Flynn from Kerry is here, he is a great lad, and Jack O’Donohue is starting here soon, so I am really excited for it.

“Our company continues to grow. Even considering the lockdown, we still had quite a good amount of sales. We continue to invest and we want to have the best horses available for our riders to compete on and for our clients in the future,” Carroll added.