SHOW JUMPING Isabel Hurley and

Judith Faherty

An overall prize fund of €110,000 was announced for the New Heights Champions Series which will be rolled out across 10 venues nationwide, starting with Louth County Show on 23 April and concluding at the final in Barnadown on 3 September during the Irish Breeders Classic weekend.

The New Heights Champions Series, sponsored by TRM and Horseware, is a joint venture between Showjumping Ireland and Horse Sport Ireland and will replace the Premier Series, which had been the pinnacle of national show jumping in Ireland for the past 10 years.

Michael Creed, TD Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, said: “It is clearly outlined in the Reaching New Heights strategic document that an increase in prize money is needed within the Irish equestrian industry in order for the sport to move forward.

“I commend Horse Sport Ireland and Showjumping Ireland on this innovative new series and I hope the equestrian industry will support it.”

The series will also be marketed to foreign buyers through Horse Sport Ireland’s international marketing division and the Irish Horse Gateway exhibition unit will be in place at each venue

Elaine Hatton, Horse Sport Ireland’s Director of International Marketing said: “I am very excited about the New Heights Champions Series.

“We have been working closely with Showjumping Ireland to create this new series which offers an increase of 30% in prize money on last year’s Premier Series, I am confident that this will further improve the standard of show jumping in Ireland at the highest level.”

SHOW SUPPORT

Meanwhile, Irish international riders Capt Geoff Curran of the Army Equitation School, Kildare’s Nicola FitzGibbon and Tipperary Rio Olympian Greg Broderick attended last Thursday’s launch and universally welcomed the new series.

Nicola FitzGibbon said: “This series looks really exciting, it’s exactly what we need. The whole scene in Ireland was a little tired. We need to ramp it up and treat our sponsors and owners better and make the shows better.

“Show venues are struggling, they need financial support. They need all sorts of supports to get their shows up and running because they have been left to flounder a little bit. They certainly deserve all the support they can get from our Association and Horse Sport Ireland.”

Capt Curran spoke of the importance of having 1.50m classes available here and welcomed the recent appointment of Gerry Mullins as chair of Horse Sport Ireland’s High Performance Committee.

Greg Broderick said: “The best thing is to do it right and pick the right chef d’equipe and not have a rush job. HSI have new initiatives in place like the riders representatives and Gerry Mullins is on board, that’s a big help.

The first Nations Cup is not until April. I think that once the new chef d’equipe is appointed and with everything that’s in place, I think everything should kick into gear pretty quickly.”

Broderick said show facilities here generally lacked behind those in Europe. “In Europe, you have access to international shows every week. It is very important to have good shows with good ground, good rings, build up to a genuine 1.50m.

“Hospitality for owners and sponsors is very important. Classes must run on time, these people are putting a lot of money into our sport and they must be looked after.”