Seven Irish Riders To Start At 65th Badminton Horse Trials Today

Seven Irish competitors, all riding Irish Sport Horses, will take part at Badminton Horse Trials, which starts today (Thursday) at the Duke of Beaufort's estate in England.

Badminton, which is officially Britain's largest outdoor sporting event, sees the cream of international talent vying for the coveted Mitsubishi Trophy over four days of top class competition.

A total of 83 horses from 14 nations will take part in the four-star event, and Ireland's representatives are:

Mark Kyle with Coolio (ISH)
Austin O'Connor with Ringwood Mississippi (ISH) Capt. Geoff Curran with Shanaclough Crecora (ISH) Sarah Ennis with Sugar Brown Babe (ISH) Joseph Murphy with Sportsfield Othello (ISH) Jim Newsam with Magennis (ISH) Clare Abbott with Euro Prince (ISH)

All seven Irish horses have now passed the veterinary inspection and are set to start two days of dressage, which will then be followed on Saturday by competition on Badminton's new-look cross country course, and finishing with the crucial show jumping phase on Sunday, when the winner will be decided.

Aside from the seven Irish Sport Horses, a further 25 Irish-bred horses will be on the start list for Badminton's 65th year.

Mark Kyle and Sarah Ennis are the first of the Irish contingent to compete on Thursday, with the remaining five undertaking their dressage tests on Friday.

Ireland's Aoife Clark, who is not competing at the event this year, finished in an impressive eighth place at Badminton in 2013 on the Irish Sport Horse Master Crusoe.

Live coverage of the cross country and show jumping phases will be available on the FEI's official video platform FEI TV (www.feitv.org), with cross country on BBC television (Red Button) and cross country highlights and live broadcast of show jumping on BBC2 television on Sunday.