Susie Berry

Horse: Wellfields Lincoln (AES) (Luidam x Priolo xx)

Breeder: Emma Humphreys

Owner: Sue Wilkinson and Anne Marling

Form: Co Down’s Susie Berry will make her Olympic debut in Paris, but she is no stranger to a championship, having competed at six at underage level, before making her senior debut at the 2022 World Championships in Pratoni del Vivaro, Italy. On that occasion, she rode Monbeg By Design to 27th place individually and fifth with the team, which helped secure Paris qualification.

The horse she takes to Paris is the 11-year-old championship first-timer, Wellfields Lincoln. They stepped up to win a CCI4*-S at the first time of trying at the end of 2022 and from three international runs this season, they have three double clears on the board and a third place finish in a CCI4*-L at Kronenberg back in March. The dressage is likely to be in the low 30s (they have a career best of 28.7) and, while there are a few 20s in their cross-country record (the last coming 12 months ago), it looks like they have put those to bed. This pair’s strongest phase is the show jumping.

Berry missed out on the end of last season after a serious fall at Blair left her concussed, with multiple broken ribs, two punctured lungs and a lacerated liver. She said: “It’s such an honour to ride alongside these three riders at my first Olympic Games. Lincoln is incredible, from day one he stood out. He is a real athlete, a very well-rounded event horse; he finds all three phases relatively easy.”

Sarah Ennis with Action Lady M \ Equus Pix

Sarah Ennis

Horse: Action Lady M (ISH) (Plot Blue x Acorado)

Breeder: Susanne Macken

Owner: Andrew Cox and Susanne Macken

Form: The youngest horse on the team, the 10-year-old Irish Sport Horse has been part of Sarah’s team for her entire competition life. Relatively young at this level, she came out all guns blazing this season, with three top 10 finishes from three international runs, the best of them was third in the CCI4*-S at Ballindenisk in April. Their first outing of the year was one of a number of across the channel trips to win an Advanced in Lincolnshire. Their dressage has been on the way down (numerically) and you would expect them to score in the very low 30s. She has had two 20 penalties across country in her career, the last coming at Burgham last July. Their show jumping record is solid this season.

Paris is Sarah’s second Olympic Games after Tokyo three years ago. The only team member based in Ireland, she is one of the country’s most established event riders and churns out multiple top performers. Her championship record boosts a team silver medal from the 2018 World Equestrian Games, where she also finished fifth individually.

Ennis commented: “She is a young mare. This year, she has come out in really good form – top 10 in all her internationals. She is very consistent across the board, she is a feisty little mare. She is so brave and incredibly intelligent.”

Austin O'Connor and Colorado Blue \ Nigel Goddard

Austin O’Connor

Horse: Colorado Blue (Jaguar Mail x Rock King)

Breeder: Kate Jarvey/Mellon Stud

Owner: The Salty Syndicate, Gill Watson, Philippa Smith, Jenny Burall

Form: It’s been a while since Ireland can say they have a five-star winner in their team, but now they do in Austin and the Irish-bred Colorado Blue. The 15-year-old grey gelding is going from strength to strength, finishing third at Badminton in 2023, before going on to win a first CCI5*-L at Maryland in the autumn. What is most exciting about the pair is that the dressage continues to improve – they scored their career best of 26.4 when finishing second in the CCI4*-S at Bramham in early June. Colorado Blue is a jumping machine; an almost perfect cross-country record was blotted by 20 penalties in Burghley last year, which maddened Austin and spurred them on to re-route to Maryland, while you have to go back to Badminton in 2023 for a show jumping fault. If all goes to plan in Paris, this pair are serious medal contenders for Ireland.

Paris is a fourth Olympic call-up for Austin, who is based on the edge of the Berkshire Downs in southern England. “He’s the horse of a lifetime. Not many horses get to do two Olympic Games. We haven’t rested on our laurels this year. He has plenty of mileage and so have I at this stage, so we have been there, done that, but we still feel we are on an upward curve together,” he said about Colorado Blue.

Aoife Clark and Sportsfield Freelance \ Nigel Goddard

Aoife Clark (Alternate)

Horse: Sportsfield Freelance (SBS Da Vinci x Fresh Breeze xx)

Breeder: Sharon Hallahan

Owner: Aoife Clark and the Freelance Syndicate

Form: This 11-year-old Irish-bred mare is registered with Leisure Horse Ireland in the Irish Piebald and Skewbald Studbook (IPSA). The mare started her career in Ireland with Paul Donovan and Sharon Power before moving to Clark, who has made it back from a horrible injury in time to be selected as the P athlete for Paris. Following selection, she wrote: “On a personal level, a year ago my arm was swinging and I had to ‘catch’ it, with bits of bone coming out in all sorts of places they shouldn’t! It was a pretty horrific break and really knocked the stuffing out of me. I was only signed back on to ride in February, so this really feels like a monumental achievement.”

A bad break of her humerus kept her out of action for the majority of last season, when she handed the reins of the mare over to her friend and Tokyo team gold medallist, Laura Collett. Aoife got back on board early this year and came out fighting for a spot when finishing fourth in the CCI4*-L at Saumur in France back in April. Their career best international dressage score of 27.2 came on that occasion.

High performance director Dag Albert

Chef d’equipe: Dag Albert

TWO-time Swedish Olympian Dag Albert knows all about the Olympic Games, having ridden at the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games and again at the Hong Kong in 2008, where Sweden finished fourth in the team competition. Albert also participated in two World Equestrian Games (2006 and 2014) and five European Eventing Championships (in 2005, 2007, 2009, 2011 and 2013).

Based in Britain, Albert joined the Irish system at underage level, helping Ireland to win team medals before taking over the senior High Performance director role on an acting basis in 2022. He guided the team to fifth place at the 2022 World Championships to secure Olympic qualification.