Murphy attends Dublin with two bronze medals

DRESSAGE Ireland’s return to last week’s Dublin Horse Show was marked by the attendance of Michael Murphy, double bronze medallist at the recent FEI para dressage world championships in Herning, Denmark.

A demonstration by four riders took place in Simmonscourt on the opening day of the show when Irish international riders Heike Holstein and Dane Rawlins kept the audience engaged and informed with their commentary.

“The efforts of all involved were met with rapturous applause from the crowded stands,” reported Dressage Ireland chair, Marguerite Kavanagh.

“We were honoured that Michael Murphy accepted our invitation to attend as a guest. It was quite a feat as he was only able to confirm two days earlier that he could attend so the logistics of flights entailed some inventive moves!

“Michael is an exceptionally committed and inspirational individual who spoke humbly of his extraordinary achievements and it was an honour to have him there as our guest.”

The riders who took part in the demonstrations were Aine Ryan whose Dutch Warmblood gelding Leejoy displayed the movements required in a six-year-old class; Laragh Byrne who performed a dressage to music programme at Medium level on the eye-catching Steendieks Dali Gold, an eight-year-old palomino German riding pony; Tara Oliver who danced her way through a Prix St George Kür on her 11-year-old black Hanoverian gelding Furst Romance; and Kevin Acres who rode a Grand Prix Kür with Con McCarthy’s similarly-aged Dutch Warmblood gelding Ganesh.

Cups stay put in RDS

WHILE well-flagged in the show’s competition schedule, the decision of the Royal Dublin Society not to permit winners to take cups and trophies home with them last week did surprise some successful exhibitors – and annoyed many more.

Most owners/riders would have a large backroom team, not all of whom would be able to enter the rings following a class or championship for the prize-giving ceremony when ‘winning exhibitors’ had the ‘opportunity to be photographed with the trophy’.

The non-presentation of highly-prized Dublin Horse Show sashes to some winners was also criticised by exhibitors.

Special award winners

CHERYL Broderick was named the leading show jumping breeder at last week’s Dublin Horse Show, based on results from the national classes for three, four, five and six-year-old horses. Ballypatrick’s results in Dublin included a runner-up finish for BP Tiny Dancer in the five-year-old ‘Flexible’ final, where BP Wonder finished fifth; BP Finn McCool was sixth in the four-year-old final and BP Bono was fourth in the three-year-old loose jumping. James Smyth from Co Antrim received the Diana Gilna Keogh Perpetual Challenge Trophy as the leading showing rider. George Chapman was the winning most owner of horses in classes 1 to 10 and 52 to 64 inclusive.

John Roche honoured for dedication

FORMER FEI Jumping Director John Roche was honoured on a number of occasions at last week’s show. The Wexford native, a former Army captain, played a key role in equestrian sport’s global governing body since first joining the Federation in May 1987 and retired in 2020. He was honoured first on Friday when receiving the IAEJ Bureau Award for his dedication to the sport of show jumping from the International Alliance of Equestrian Journalists, presented to him by Louise Parkes and American journalist Pamela Young.

Roche was then honoured by the RDS on Saturday with a special presentation before the Land Rover Puissance in front of the packed crowd.