JANUARY

Billy Twomey gave hope of good things to come when winning the Grand Prix at Liverpool with Diaghilev. Also there Aisling Byrne and Lucinda Roche had amateur wins on Irish-breds. Denis Lynch not only retired his long-time partner Abbervail van het Dingeshof at Basil, but had a farewell win on him as well. Lynch was under pressure to gain more points in his bid for World Cup qualification and also boost his standing on the Northwest European Olympic Qualifying Group. Two good seconds in quick succession at Leipzig and Zurich on All Star 5 helped greatly.

FEBRUARY

For the second time in a row, Bertram Allen was declared Show Jumper of the Year at The Irish Field Awards in the K Club. Junior show jumper was Jennifer Kuehnle. Michael Ryan got the senior eventer award, while the junior trophy went to Cathal Daniels. Olympic hopeful Judy Reynolds was the dressage winner. With a fifth placing in the last Western European League qualifier at Bordeaux, Denis Lynch clinched his place in the Longines World Cup Final at Gothenburg. Meanwhile, Judy Reynolds got a late call-up for the Dressage final there. Jan Tops’ new Global Champions League was announced and the GCT is expanded to 16 rounds. Total prizes for the two events tops €15m.

MARCH

Bertram Allen consolidated his position at the top of the Olympic qualifying group with good wins and placings at the Hong Kong Masters. Team manager Robert Splaine nominated his four qualifying venues in the Furusiyya Nations Cup series as Lummen, St Gallen, Falsterbo and Dublin. The Irish got a good team start to the season when winning the non-points gaining Nations Cup at Wellington. The side of Cian O’Connor, Conor Swail, Shane Sweetnam and Richie Moloney came out on top. Richie went on to win the Grand Prix at Palm Beech.

APRIL

Both Denis Lynch (5th) and Judy Reynolds (7th) did well in the World Cup Finals at Gothenburg. We reported on a broad interpretation of the Olympic horse ownership rules. Ireland’s eventing team of Jonty Evans, Cathal Daniels, Clare Abbott and Austin O’Connor gave hopes for Rio with a third in the Nations Cup at Fontainebleau. Cian O’Connor put his hat in the ring for Olympic selection with a second in the Million Dollar GP at Ocala. Ireland’s first Nations Cup qualifier at Lummen was cancelled. Bertram Allen’s team Valkenswaard United won the opening round of the Global Champions League in Florida. MAY

Billy Twomey kept up good form by winning the Hamburg Derby with Diaghilev. Kilkenny’s Ger O’Neill won the Balmoral Grand Prix and was Leading Rider. Bertram Allen and Hector van d’Abdijhoeve were fourth in the Global Champions Tour at Madrid and moved up to seventh on the leader board. D-Day was approaching for Robert Splaine to make his final decision as to who would fill Ireland’s single show jumping place in the Rio Olympics. In contention were Bertram Allen, Denis Lynch, Cian O’Connor and Greg Broderick.

JUNE

Ireland scored a stunning Furusiyya Nations Cup win at St Gallen. The team of Greg Broderick, Bertram Allen, Cian O’Connor and Denis Lynch picked up 100 valuable qualifying points final. Four clear rounds there by Greg Broderick and Going Global in the Cup and the Grand Prix convinced Robert Splaine that Greg was to be Ireland’s contender in the Rio Olympics. The Irish eventing team for Rio selected by Nick Turner was Clare Abbott, Jonty Evans, Padraic McCarthy, Mark Kyle with Camilla Speirs in reserve. Kevin Babington won the $225,000 GP in Devon on Sapphire. Judy Reynolds sealed her qualification for Rio with a second placing in Austria.

JULY

Irish-bred Glenavadra won the Hickstead Derby for William Whitaker. Cameron Hanley won the Kroneburg GP in Holland with Falco. Anthony Condon, Shane Breen, Darragh Kenny and Shane Sweetnam were selected for Falsterbo, but first round faults knocked them out of contention and Ireland’s qualification was all down to Dublin. Selected for that was our top side of Bertram Allen, Greg Broderick, Darragh Kenny, Denis Lynch and Cian O’Connor. We brought Italy to a jump-off for the Aga Khan and finished second, which was enough to ensure qualification for the €2m Barcelona Furusiyya Final.

AUGUST

August began with a golden win by Ireland’s Under 21 team of Max O’Reilly Hyland, Michael Duffy, Matt Garrigan and Gavin Harley in the European Championships at Millstreet. Britain’s Laura Renick won the Grand Prix at the international show there. Before heading for Rio, Greg had a moral boost by winning the Underwriting Exchange Jumping In The City Grand Prix in Dublin. The Irish eventing team’s failure to feature in the Olympics was assuaged by the brilliant bronze medal win by the Irish-bred Mighty Nice for Phillip Dutton of USA. His breeder William Kells later got a WBFSH award in Geneva. Meanwhile, an uncharacteristic foot in the water denied Greg Broderick a shot at a medal. Nick Skelton won gold.

SEPTEMBER

Kilkenny’s Richie Moloney kept up his good form in the USA with Carrabis Z to win the $300,000 Hampton Classic. Ireland dominated the World Young Horse Championship podium at Lanaken with gold, silver and bronze medals. Ger O’Neill won six-year-old gold with Laura and Frank Glynn’s Killossery Kaiden by Lux Z that was later sold at Goresbridge for €270,000. Michael Pender took both silver and bronze in five-year-olds with two bred by Marion Hughes – Caretina and Can Ya Dance. Cameron Hanley and Cas 2 were second in the Grand Prix at Donaueschingen.

OCTOBER

The Irish team of Greg Broderick, Darragh Kenny, Denis Lynch and Shane Breen finished fifth out of 18 at the €2m Furusiyya Final in Barcelona. Darragh Kenny then came through to win the Grand Prix on Go Easy de Muze ahead of Ludger Beerbaum and Greg. Following her 18th place finish at the Olympics, Judy Reynolds and Vancouver scored four USA wins in a row. Cian O’Connor and Good Luck came fifth in the Los Angeles Masters. He then went on to win the Birmingham Grand Prix with Super. He also picked up seven World Cup points at the opening round in Oslo. Shane Breen got nine in Helsinki. Camilla Speirs and Portersize came sixth at Pau four-star event.

NOVEMBER

At the World Cup qualifier in Lyon, Darragh Kenny, Shane Breen and Denis Lynch picked up a total of 30 points. Lynch was second in the Masters there. At the eventing young Horse Championships in Le Lion d’Angers, Sophie Richards had the best result on the Irish-bred Business Class, bred by Don Hadden. In the rich Global Champions Tour and Champions League Finals at Doha, Bertram Allen picked up more than €500,000 in winnings when his team Valkenswaard United topped the league and he himself finished individual sixth in the Tour.

Daniel Coyle took over from Conor Swail as lead rider for Susan and Ariel Grange’s team and had a great show in Toronto. Jonathan Smyth won the Cavan International Grand Prix on Carlton Clio. Kevin Babington took the $200,000 Thermal, California, Grand Prix with the mare Shorapur. This brought Irish rider prize winnings to over $2,000,000 in US Grand Prix events during 2016.

DECEMBER

Following his third place in the Stuttgart qualifier, Cian O’Connor got well into contention for Longines World Cup qualification. Bertram Allen was runner-up in the Longines Paris Masters with Noel Delahunty’s grey stallion Hector van d’Abdijhoeve.