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Michael Slavin

With Professor Pat Wall stepping down as chairman of Horse Sport Ireland (HSI), a government review of HSI on the way and new contests for senior managers in both show jumping and eventing in the offering, 2017 is shaping up to be a year of uncertainty for Irish equestrian sport. Added to this is the continued uncertainty hanging over the FEI Nations Cup series. There has, as yet, been no word of a renewal of sponsorship by Saudi Arabian Furusiyya and the only response we are getting from FEI officials is that they will soldier on regardless. Prof Pat Wall has completed his term of office and while he would be eligible for a second term, he has let it be known that his work load in the medical and veterinary and academic worlds does not allow him the amount of time that is needed to be fully effective within HSI.

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“It would be more suitable to a retired person,” he has said. So who is there that can come forward after Pat moves on at the end of February?

He has set a tone for the post that will not be easy to replicate in terms of presence and enthusiasm. And with a detailed review of all aspects of HSI functions in train, it will be very difficult to find someone to step in while that is ongoing.

MANAGERS

Also up for renewal or replacement are the posts of high performance managers in both show jumping and eventing. Robert Splaine completes his third term with the show jumping team following the Furusiyya Final at the end of this month.

His greatest successes have come in terms of Nations Cup performances and he has maintained Ireland’s place in division one of the Furusiyya League. Failure to qualify for Rio has been a big disappointment for him. But then who can prevent an Aachen course steward from running out in front of a rider who was about to deliver just that qualification?

No doubt there will be a number of candidates, possibly Robert among them, who will be putting their names forward for this post whenever it is advertised in 2017. But the review may delay that as well.

Nick Turner also has Nations Cup success to his credit during his first four year term as eventing high performance manager.

However, while Ireland did achieve Olympic qualification our performance in Rio was less than scintillating. However, on balance, it would not be easy to replace him. Just how the government review will pan out is impossible to predict. Under the terms of reference, the consultants assigned to do the job will be looking at every aspect of management, good practice and value for money.

But surely something to be checked is the relationship between HSI and the breeding sector. It is time for the Irish Horse Board to get back control over its funding. It has to be ring fenced if it is to be truly effective. But once again the whole review concept is riddled with uncertainty.

FUTURE

Last weekend Ireland had Cian O’Connor and Greg Broderick jumping for a prize of $2 million in the Rolex Grand Slam Grand Prix at Spruce Meadows, Calgary. We also had Bertram Allen and Denis Lynch bidding for points in the €5 million Global Champions Tour series at Rome.

As one senior official in the sport recently commented to me, “it is all about money now”. And sadly, at the moment the Nations Cup series just does not have enough money to make it truly competitive with either the Global Champions Series or Rolex Grand Slam events in Aachen, Paris, Spruce Meadows and Geneva. What Nations Cup needs is an independent promoter and entrepreneur on a par with the likes of the Southerns of Calgary, Max Ammann, who initiated the World Cup or Jan Tops, who has brought about a revolution in the sport through the Global Champions Tour to take it on and run with its development.

National pride can just go so far when the prize for being on a winning Nations Cup team stands at about €50,000 while a Global Tour winner gets €100,000 or a Calgary winners nets over half a million euro. Whether Furusiyya will renew and up the anti is uncertain and that is a worry.