JAMES Kernan has come full circle, from winning an individual gold medal for Ireland at the Junior European Championships in 1974 to managing the Irish Junior and Young Rider teams, who both secured gold medals, as well as Young Rider individual gold and Junior individual silver medals in 2023.

It was always likely that James, who is from Co Armagh, would become involved with horses. His grandfather was a horse dealer and used to buy horses for the Egyptian Army and the Italian Army, while James’ father Frank got into show jumping and produced horses for himself to jump at shows.