Meath-based dressage rider Kate Dwyer made history last Saturday at Doha in Qatar, by becoming the first Irish rider to win a Grand Prix Special at five-star level.

Last to go in the competition at the Al Shaqab arena, Dwyer and the 14-year-old gelding Snowdon Faberge, who Dwyer owns along with her mum Maureen, produced an outstanding performance to record a personal best score of 70.043% and take the winner’s prize of almost €6,000.

A delighted Dwyer said: “I am so, so pleased with Fabio [Snowdon Faberge] today. The feeling he gave me in the ring was amazing. The whole test felt much more confident and I really feel we showed a lovely harmony which is so important in dressage. I am delighted with his performance and I know this is only the tip of the iceberg of what he can give me.” Dwyer and Snowdon Faberge had finished 10th in Friday’s Grand Prix at the same venue, while Ireland’s Dane Rawlins finished in 12th place.

Also on Saturday, Rawlins recorded another excellent result when taking ninth place with Espoire in the Grand Prix Freestyle To Music. The pair came close to breaking their personal best performance when scoring 70.925%, with victory going to Sweden’s Patrik Kittel and Delaunay Old on a score of 79.290%.

Kildare’s Heike Holstein and the Irish-bred mare Sambuca added to a brilliant run of Irish results on the world stage by taking sixth place in Sunday’s four-star Freestyle To Music Grand Prix at Lier in Belgium.

Prize fund Boost for Dublin Show Hunter classes

The show hunter classes at the Dublin Horse Show will see a 53% increase in prize funds across the three weight categories, bringing the total prize fund to an unprecedented €49,000. The show hunter classes, and the tradition and spectacle surrounding them, are an annual focus point of the show and the RDS is determined to maintain and develop this sector of equestrianism for future generations.

These ridden classes, which are open to Irish-bred horses only, offer breeders, producers and riders a unique platform to produce, showcase and market their quality horses. The weight classes should be of particular interest to young horse producers, who can utilize them as a training and production medium, without putting undue performance pressure on their horses in their formative years. The increase in prize fund will extend across the age groups and the classes are open to riders of all disciplines, not just show horse producers.

Ireland second in Florida Nations Cup

The Irish show jumping team of Darragh Kenny, Paul O’Shea, David Blake and Billy Twomey took the runner-up spot in the $150,000 four-star Nations Cup at the Winter Equestrian Festival in Wellington, Florida for the third year in-a-row.

America took victory on just four faults ahead of Ireland in second on 13, while Australia took third place on 22 faults.

Ireland’s focus now turns to their first points-scoring outing in Europe’s Division 1 of the Longines FEI Nations Cup series which come at La Baule in France on 15 May.

That will be quickly followed by Ireland’s second opportunity to collect points the following weekend at St Gallen in Switzerland, before the third round of action at Rotterdam in The Netherlands in June.

Each team has four point-scoring opportunities, with Ireland’s last chance to gain points coming on home soil in the Aga Khan at the Dublin Horse Show.