I would like to pay tribute to an unsung hero of innovation at Dublin Horse Show, Pat McDonagh, who sadly passed away during the past week.

As PR manager of the Irish Dairy Board (IDB), he quietly helped the show enter a new era by being key to the implementation of a 12-year, multi-million euro Kerrygold sponsorship that began in 1989.

Over the more than 150 years of its history, the RDS Horse Show has been blessed to have innovators like Pat continually move it forward in tune with the changing times. Right at its very beginning back in 1868 it was another unsung hero, William St Laurance who convinced the RDS council that it would “prove expedient to offer prizes for jumping in the yard of Leinster House.” He was certainly proven right.

Aga Khan

We know much of Judge William Wylie’s role in bringing international Nations Cup jumping to the RDS in 1926. But behind the scenes in that innovative move was the genius showman Edward Bohane. It is his choreography of the event with the pre-cup parade with army bands that is still a rousing and inspiring feature to this day.

In the 1960s, professionalism entered show jumping. The RDS had to move with the trend and masterminding that adjustment was Eddie Taylor who was superintendent there between 1955 and 1979. Commercial sponsorship of the international jumping classes was introduced and the layout of the main arena was brought in line with developments at major shows abroad.

Kerrygold

The economic downturn of the 1980s brought cutbacks in commercial sponsorship of international classes in the main arena. By 1988 the RDS was funding many of them itself directly. Even with that, the show was not keeping pace with the kind of money available at venues such as Aachen or Rome.

Enter Kerrygold in 1989. Having received the blessing of then Irish Dairy Board head Dr Noel Cawley, it fell to the company’s PR manager McDonagh to implement a new sponsorship of the international classes. With ideas gained from trips to Aachen and Paris and backed by a small team that included Margaret Moran and Maura Hussy, he trebled the prize fund and helped modernise the running of the event.

Unheralded but not forgotten Pat McDonagh had the kind of fire in the belly that the RDS will now need as it climbs out of the mire that is the COVID-19 pandemic.