RDS Ready to Rally

There is no fan base more knowledgeable or passionate than the Irish when it comes to horse sports. While the performance data and predictive analytics from EquiRatings had the Irish team as narrow favourites, the wisdom of an Irish crowd didn’t need the numbers to know that Michael Blake’s team had a real shot at righting the wrongs of the equestrian history books.

The levels of excitement and anticipation pre-Paris were matched at the opposite end of the scale as the cruel openness and narrow margins of show jumping continued to deny Ireland its first team medal. As with any disappointment or setback, the full range of emotions hit before eventually being able to process and move on. Frustration and heartbreak were quick off the blocks, but the Dublin Horse Show sets the perfect stage to begin the healing and rebuilding process.

Fallen favourites will need the Ballsbridge roar more than ever

The enemy in show jumping is never the opponent, it’s the 12ft pieces of wood that sit delicately poised to turn dreams into nightmares. The punishing nature of penalties in this game includes a cruel element of chance that can see one mistake accounted for while another gets away without reckoning.

The nature of horse sports brings another living variable which can create all sorts of unforeseen drama. No one will know this better than the current World Number One, Henrik von Eckermann, who returns to Dublin after a 10-year absence. Like the Irish team, he knows what it feels like to be a fallen favourite in the very literal sense of the phrase. His parting of company with King Edward in the individual final in Paris will have tested the resolve of any rider.

The simple maths of this sport is that many have real chances and only very few can take home the rewards. The result of that unfair equation is that most competitors walk away empty handed, but none will feel more disappointed than the home nation in Dublin this week. They will face stiff opposition from the newly crowned Olympic champions (GBR) as well as the silver (USA) and bronze (FRA) medalists. The World and European champions (SWE) won’t make life easy either, and nor will the Belgians or Germans who both boast talent.

Fancy new beginnings

Many of us have heard and felt the sound of a home win in the Aga Khan Nations Cup or a home winner in the now Rolex sponsored Grand Prix of Dublin. It would be too easy and simple to reach the conclusion that we ‘need’ one of those outcomes. The facts are that the odds will be against us, but we can still possess the firepower to dare to ‘hope’ and there is every chance that Ireland will once again carry the burden of being pre-competition favourites when the EquiRatings numbers have been finalised on Friday morning.

The real value of the Dublin Horse Show 2024 is that it is step one on the long journeys towards Aachen 2026 (World Championships) and LA 2028 (Olympic Games). Ireland still searches for that long overdue first team medal and there will be combinations on show this week that will spearhead that mission over the coming years. One such combination will be the 4th highest rated nine year old in the world, Fancy De Kergane, for Cian O’Connor. The pair have jumped five perfect clears in their last fine attempts at five-star 160 level. If anyone can break the decibel records in Ballsbridge this week, it could well be this pair.