IT’s a touchdown-take off week for Jessica Burke, whose winter campaign has been nothing short of spectacular. Just back from a successful spell in the United Arab Emirates, the five-star Nations Cup debutante is home at her Arion Stud base on Wednesday night, after a busy day spent schooling a lorry load of youngsters at the Billy Stud.

Meanwhile, her team of international horses - Nikey HH, Inpulss and Express Trend - are basking in the Arabian sunshine in the capable hands of show groom Aaliyah Phillips. They’ll be joined next Monday by Jessica when she jets back to Sharjah for another upcoming show.

Sounds like a glamorous lifestyle and one dreamt of by many aspiring riders from the first red rosette and trophy won in pony classes. That’s the dream. The reality is few catch enough waves - the right owners, horses and ongoing opportunities - to make that breakthrough.

In Jessica’s case, the lucky breaks happened after her decision to focus fully on show jumping. A prolific winner at pony level, her time in the sun came after the Gort schoolteacher left the classroom to take up a new job at Arion Stud.

After her first five-star win at Stuttgart last November and two Nations Cup appearances already this year, was giving up her maths teachers job worth it now?

“Oh yeah, 100%! It’s worked out for me. I had great days teaching but in 2019 I couldn’t even have dreamt it would go so good so quick. I was very lucky that I made a good few decisions that year; gave up teaching, moved to England and Nikey HH was bought. And look at where she is now, I think she’s one of the best horses in the world.

“It was a massive change, moving country, leaving family, friends, everything. I’d never even really travelled, never mind moved anywhere. In Ireland, I was always doing horses while teaching. It changed my life really.”

Jessica Burke and Namamia jumping in the CSIO3* Nations Cup in Lisbon last year \ Nuno Pragana Imagemedia

Milchem academy

What prompted the career change was a taste of the European circuit. “I think, when it happened, was I went to Lanaken a couple of times, then Sentower and Lier, where I was placed in a two-star Grand Prix. Everyone always says you need to go to Europe to get better but I definitely realised that then.

“I’d got into the five-star at Dublin that year, while I was still teaching and while it was great to get in, my results were terrible. I was so far away from actually competing at five-star level. I’ve always been one to do things right or don’t do it all, so I thought if I want to do show jumping properly, I need to do it full-time.

“Out of everywhere I’ve been, the Irish people are the best in the world, a lot of my closest friends remain in Ireland and obviously I miss them and my family of course. But I think you have to make the decision and go for it.”

Her brother Ronan has also spread his wings. “We all did ponies, he’d jump round the shows then play hurling out the back! Ronan is in Canada now with his girlfriend. He went to Vancouver the week after Dublin.

“My sister Olga jumped in Dublin and is in final year Veterinary Medicine in UCD, I’d like to see her work in the equine industry.”

Their parents, Francis and Catherine, were always supportive of their plans. “Dad was a dairy farmer, then he sold up the herd and went more into horses.”

And the common denominator in many western medallists’ stories is Milchem Equestrian Centre’s Ralph Conroy. “I trained every week in Ralph’s all through my pony career. Going to Ralph’s is like going home. We’d always go in for a cup of coffee afterwards and talk about everything. Ralph is brilliant, I met a lot of people there including one of my best friends - Lauren Devine - when she trained there.

“So many from Galway, like Olive Clarke and Cathal Daniels, trained with Ralph. He’s put so many good riders through his hands.”

Including Jessica. “I did four Europeans. While not having much Nations Cup experience at senior level, I had such a great pony career and went last a lot in team competitions. I won two bronze medals over four years.”

Sillogue Darkie club

Another constant of those medal-winning teams was the Ard Talisman gelding Sillogue Darkie, bred and owned by Eamonn Briscoe.

“It’s funny, I was chatting at the team dinner with Michael Duffy. Both of us from Galway, our first time jumping on a team together. We both rode Sillogue Darkie and both won a European medal on him! We were listing out all the names of who rode Darkie,”

The pure-bred Connemara ambassador was originally started off by Eamonn Briscoe Jnr, then went to Alexander Butler, Nicholas Butler, Stacey Meegan, the late Benny Kuehnle and David Blake, son of Horse Sport Ireland’s show jumping High Performance Manager, Michael.

“Then he came to me, then he went to Michael and then finished with Kelly and Kerry Taggart. Eamonn owned him the whole way through and it was always ‘Who’s going to get Darkie next?’ in ponies, because he won Dublin several times, he won European medals. Sure when Darkie came to us, it was like all your Christmases had come at once!

“Him and Cul Bán Mistress were the two you’d remember.”

Jessica needed another Sillogue Darkie to kickstart her international career. With the move to Louisa Church’s Arion Stud, near Southampton, she was already closer to the continent for starters.

“The west of Ireland is so far away if you want to compete there. I wanted to move to Europe, then Roger McCrea contacted me about the job here. Roger is the Billy Stud manager and my trainer. He put me in contact with Louisa initially. I flew over, met Louisa and got on instantly with her.”

Louisa, who works in finance, owns the Dutch-bred Inpulss (Dallas VDL x Indorado).

11/11/’22 is an instantly memorable date anyhow but for the Arion Stud team, it will always be remembered as Inpulss and Jessica’s first five-star win at Stuttgart.

“As a woman in business, she’s an amazing support and gives me a lot of strength and to believe in myself. She put the facilities and horses in front of me. Louisa does a lot of work in the Middle East but she flew out a day early before the Nations Cup to support me and her presence meant a lot,” said Jessica about another good mentor.

Her other five-star horses Express Trend (Future Trend x Condios) and Nikey HH (Herald Van’t Ruytershof x Upsilon van de Heffinck) are owned by Clareman, Liam Nicholas.

“I’ve worked for Liam for over 10 years. He bred Trendy, he was my first good horse and then Liam bought Nikey the year I moved here. A very intelligent guy, Liam always has a back-up plan. He thought it was a good idea to buy a mare and take embryos, so there’s two embryos by Untouchable due this year from Nikey.

“The plan is to keep Nikey for the moment. That was why we went to the UAE to get the leg up, because I don’t have that much experience at five-star level.”

Jessica Burke landed a hat trick at the Horse of the Year Show \ 1st Class Images HOYS

Team spirit

Her first five-star Nations Cup call-up with Nikey HH came at Abu Dhabi last month, followed by their second last Sunday at Sharjah CSIO 4* (See page 93).

“I’ve done four weeks out there, the horses came off the lorry raring to go! Last year I was over the moon to do three three-star Nations Cups (Lisbon, Madrid and Deauville) and now I’ve a four and five-star Nations Cup jumped as well. That’s been the plan. Even when we went to Stuttgart, I didn’t jump Nikey in the World Cup because I didn’t feel we were completely ready and my goal was to come here.

“Then we were fourth in the World Cup qualifier the first week in Abu Dhabi, then obviously she jumped clear and four in the five-star Nations Cup.”

What was the build-up to that Nations Cup appearance like? “I won a class in Abu Dhabi with Inpulss, she’s amazing for your confidence, she makes winning feel easy! So the Irish national anthem was already played that week. Then Michael Blake arrived with the team gear and I met up with the lads.

“I’d jumped on teams before with Michael Duffy, Shane was always one of my idols so it was lovely to jump on a team with him and obviously Trevor as well. Trevor has a similar enough story to me. He was a teacher before he went show jumping full-time. They were all very sound and helpful.

“Michael [Blake] has been great, he’s been brilliant to give me the chance, to give me that start last year. Taylor [Vard] was with us in the [three-star] Cups last year so this was the first time I’ve worked with Michael directly. It’s nice because I’ve known him for 100 years!

“I’ve known Michael since we were growing up in ponies. He’s very positive, always very helpful and I think he has a great passion for the sport.”

Catherine Burke was also amongst the Irish supporters in the Middle East. “Mum came out for 10 days. Neither of us had ever been to the country before so I booked a hotel in Dubai for a few days in between the shows. I got loads of hotel recommendations and when we arrived, there was no lobby, just a pool party. A great place for a holiday with your friends, just maybe not where you’d bring your mother!”

Chippy ‘carrot’

Camel trekking in the desert and Rory McIlroy’s win in the Dubai Desert Classic were more highlights for the pair. “I love all sports, golf, tennis, Six Nations rugby and now I’m a bit older, I appreciate the travel opportunities. I’d love to go to Vancouver to see Ronan one day.”

Six years ago, armed with his copy of The Irish Field’s Dublin Horse Show preview supplement, Francis Burke was amongst the fellow passengers on the early morning Dublin train to watch Jessica compete there.

He’s getting ready to travel further afield shortly. “My parents are massive supporters. Dad said to one of our good friends Alan Morgan, ‘If my daughter was jumping out there, I’d have to go,’ so off he’s going! He’s coming out to the next show.”

There’s also a considerable back-up team around Southampton. “Roger [McCrea] is a massive part of my team, he helps me with decisions and is a wonderful person to plan things with.

“The team at home in Arion Stud is Atty Birdwood, the home groom and manager and Gabriella D’Ambrosia, who rides the young horses. Michael Fullick is part of the DIY livery family at Arion. Our truck driver and part-time groom when we need him, he can fix most things for us when we break them!

“Then there’s Vasco Lopez and Mark Barton, my vet and farrier; Beth Porter, Poppy Batton and Ed Rose also work part-time and I’m very lucky to have the team at home and support network that we do, which means we can stay producing hopefully more superstars!”

Amongst Arion Stud’s visitors are Marie and John Burke. “They were over twice before Christmas and have a lot of lovely up-and-coming young horses. Marie is one of my supporters and no better woman, we always stayed very much in touch.”

She has fond memories of her time in the Burke’s yard, including the reward offered at the end of the day, after working between eight and 10 horses. “Marie would say, ‘If you ride one more horse, then you can ride Chippison. That was my claim to fame!”

And of course there’s the indispensable Aaliyah, Jessica’s show groom for the past six years. “I’d advertised for help back in Gort. Aaliyah was only 16 at the time but very mature for her age. She’d worked on a stud farm and later gave up school to groom full-time. I remember thinking I wish I could leave school!”

Brexit logistics

Later on, Jessica did just that and is now on a formal career break. Teaching, once regarded as a job for life and with lengthy holidays, is not quite the same vocation.

“It is a great job and very rewarding but for my generation, it’s all changed, including the wages structure. Don’t get me wrong, the summer holidays are amazing but there were restrictions, like if I needed time off for Lanaken.

“I loved the classroom side but it was more and more paperwork and after-hours; the planning, the corrections. If you added up the hours, I don’t think it’s well enough paid. A lot of my friends have left teaching and are in Australia,” said the NUIG graduate.

As a maths teacher, planning and paperwork is paramount. “I was always a big planner, even in school for the kids to hit their goals.” Has Brexit been an obstacle for planning overseas shows now?

“It’s definitely more difficult but we’re getting used to it now. It is more expensive for the horses to leave the country to jump in Sentower, for example, but two things: It has definitely strengthened the shows in the UK. [Billy Stud’s] Will Funnell does a lot for British show jumping and is always looking for ways to improve the shows here.

“It has also made us think more about the quality of horse we take abroad, we need to make the lorry load pay their way.

“We’ve mainly ridden horses here, we try and buy them between the ages of four and seven for producing, sometimes an older one. There hasn’t been much breeding done but since we’ve Nikey and Inpulss, we’ve started on a small scale, with our reproduction vet Kate Bandy, to take embryos off the good mares.

“The five-star horses… we kept them for a reason. After Sharjah, they’ll take a little break, then hopefully some five-star Nations Cups in the summer. Dublin is always the dream, then the Olympics is the year after that.

“There’s so many good Irish riders, so many good horses but you definitely have to think about this things, one step at a time. It’s great when a plan comes together. You envision these things, dream of these things, believe in yourself, work hard and be humble,” are Jessica Burke’s wise parting words.