By Horse Sport Ireland / HSI
Photography: Stefano Secchi; Sportfot
With the 2025 showjumping season now well underway, the next generation of young international showjumping horses step into the limelight and take over the reins from some older or retiring stablemates.
Here, we take a look at some of the young Irish Sport Horses that are making the step up in international competition.
Firstly, we look at the emerging mount of Ireland’s World No. 34 ranked rider on the FEI rankings, Michael Pender and HHS Cyprus (ISH). Together this partnership represented the Irish Sport Horse Studbook at the 2024 WBFSH Studbooks Jumping Global Champions Trophy in Valkenswaard (NED) in the eight-year-old division and became the age-group leader of that show.
Now nine years of age, this son of Cornet Oblensky (BWP) has since stepped up to the 1m50 level where the duo have already had a podium finish when finishing second in the 1m50 Two Phase class at the Abu Dhabi (UAE) CSI4*-W.
Bred and owned by Marion Hughes and Miguel Bravo of the Hughes Horse Stud in Co. Kilkenny, this gelding is a full brother to a former member of Pender’s top string of horses, the mare HHS Cornetta (ISH). With Pender in the saddle, HHS Cornetta won the 1m50 Jump-Off class at the CSIO5* Spruce Meadows Masters in Canada in 2024. They were also second in the 1m50 Dublin Stakes at the CSIO5* Dublin Horse Show in 2024. HHS Cornetta is now ridden by Switzerland’s Geraldine Straumann.
Pender will be expecting HHS Cyprus to continue to fill the void left by HHS Cornetta and may even feature as a member of a 2025 European Equestrian Federation’s (EEF) CSIO3* Nations Cup Team. We look forward to following their progress together in the year ahead.
Another Irish-bred making a name for herself on the international stage is ABC Saving Grace (ISH). With Ireland’s Ethen Ahearne in the saddle, this mare was the winner of the six-year-old World Championship title at the 2022 FEI-WBFSH Jumping World Breeding Championship for Young Horses in Lanaken, Belgium... To read the complete article you need to be a subscriber
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