Horse Sport Ireland & Eventing Ireland Launch New Young Event Horse Series
Horse Sport Ireland and Eventing Ireland have announced a new Young Event Horse series to be run in association with Horseware.
The series will be for Four, Five and Six Year Old horses and will take place during selected national events. A total prize fund of €20,000 will apply to the series, while a further €5,000 will be invested by HSI in other young event horse prizes and bonuses at international events in Ireland.
In the new league the Four year old qualifiers will take place over the introductory level course. There will be four legs which will run from 1 July with each combination’s top three events counting towards the league winners.
The Five and Six Year Old Classes will be run over pre-novice and novice courses respectively, comprising eight legs in each. Each combination’s top six events will count towards the overall league standings.
Horse Sport Ireland will provide a prize top of €500 for each of these 20 classes on top of the normal Eventing Ireland prize money. Despite the increase in prize money, entry fees will be the same as they were in young horse classes in 2012.
Owners and breeders will be further recognised for their valued contribution and support to the sport. The top three owners of each league will share a total €3,000 prize fund and the top three breeders of each league will share a €1,800 prize fund.
Horseware will provide rugs to the winners of each of the 20 classes and a pair of Ice-vibe boots for each league winner. The Tim Phillips Trophy, which had previously been presented for the Horseware league, will be presented to the owner of the top horse in each league In addition to the new league Horse Sport Ireland will also provided prizes and bonuses for five classes run at International events during 2013.
The very successful Masterclass for Four Year Olds which ran at Camphire International last July, will continue this year with a prize fund of €1,000.
Prizes will also be awarded to the three highest placed Six Year Old Irish Sport Horses competing in the CIC1* at Camphire International.
To cater for Seven Year Olds, there will be a special bonus prize for the top three Irish Sport Horses at the two star international classes in Tattersalls, Camphire and Ballindenisk 2.
Speaking after the announcement Horse Sport Ireland Chairman Dr Pat Wall said “We are pleased to be able to support this series to enhance the prize money in young horse classes. We would also hope that it would encourage breeders to register their animals with recorded pedigree. There is a huge emphasis on registering horses but from an industry perspective simply getting identity documents for horses without recording the pedigree does not help to build the value of our breeding stock” he said.
Eventing Ireland Chairman Georgia Stubington said “I am delighted to see new prize money coming into the sport and that I hope these classes will help to identify and develop horses going forward to Le Lion d’Angers.”
A simple tendering process for venues wishing to apply to host the series has been opened.
