Three Galway Riders have been confirmed to take part in this Friday's Horse Sport Ireland Irish Showjumping Masters that will be held in the Emerald International Arena in Kildare.
Turloughmore's Michael Duffy and Gort's Jessica Burke will be joined by Kylebrack's Cathal Daniels who is better known as a three day eventer but is also a talented showjumper as his exploits on the Irish Team has shown.
Global superstars Bertram Allen and Denis Lynch are among the European-based riders set to return home to compete and the list of athletes also includes former World Champion Dermott Lennon, and last year’s winner of the Longines Grand Prix of Ireland and Nations Cup regular Shane Breen.
Canada-based Daniel Coyle who is one of seven Irish riders inside the top 50 on the Longines World Rankings is also set to compete in the HSI Show Jumping Masters along with Olympian Greg Broderick, reigning and Irish National Champion Capt Geoff Curran from the Army Equitation school and former World Breeding Championship Gold medal winners Ger O’Neill and Jason Foley along with silver medal winner Mikey Pender.
Several top foreign riders will add an international flavour to the competition including Rolex Grand Slam of Show Jumping winner Sameh El Dahan from Egypt, Britain’s Georgia Tame and Canada’s Rebecca McGoldrick. Two former winners of the Hickstead Derby also line-out with Paul Beecher and Trevor Breen both among the starters.
A large group of Irish riders who are now based in the UK like Duffy and Burke are set to return home including Richard Howley, David Simpson and Young Rider Jack Ryan, a European Championship U18 bronze medal winner and winner of Grand Prix competitions in the Middle.
In addition to a lucrative prize fund, the winning rider of the Horse Sport Ireland Show Jumping Masters will drive away in a stunning new Overlander 2-stall Horse Truck supplied by Hireco, Naas, Co Kildare.
The Horse Sport Ireland Show Jumping Masters will be run strictly behind closed doors in full compliance with all Covid-19 protocols, including Covid-19 testing of athletes returning from abroad.
The event will be broadcast live on Friday from 6.30pm to 8.55pm on RTE 2 television and on the RTE Player.
