Ireland dominates Lanaken World Championships again winning two gold medals a silver and a bronze

Mikey Pender with HHS Private Ryan

The incredible record of Irish horses and riders at the FEI WBFSH Jumping World Breeding Championships at Lanaken in Belgium has been further enhanced today (Sunday), after an outstanding performance saw Ireland claim two World Championship gold medals along with a silver and a bronze.

An historic day for the Irish began with Kildare’s Michael Pender taking the gold medal in the 5-year-old World Championship with HHS Private Ryan. Pender posted what proved an unbeatable jump-off time of 38.23 seconds which saw him finish just over a second ahead of Dutch rider Doron Kuipers who took the silver with Olympic van’t Roosakker VK Z.
Two Irish riders finished on the podium with Carlow’s Jason Foley and Tysons Lady Lux (ISH), bred in Dublin by Shay Hesnan, taking the bronze medal while Shane Dalton finished fifth with Unicum-H (BWP).

The win sees Michael Pender complete a hat-trick of Gold Medal wins at the World Breeding Championships in Lanaken having won the gold medal in the 7-year-old final in 2024 with HHS Mercedes (ISH) while in 2023, he partnered HHS Ocala (ISH) to a Gold medal win in the 5-year-old final.

A delighted Michael Pender outlined afterwards how he only took up the ride on HHS Private Ryan in recent weeks:

“Brendan Doyle the yard manager in Marion’s [Hughes Horse Stud] bought him and he was produced in Marion’s. Last year he didn’t do so many shows and then Martha [Hughes Bravo] bought into him and did some shows with him and I am riding him now maybe six weeks . A big thanks to everyone back at home being part of the whole journey and without them days like this are not possible,” Pender said.

Niamh McEvoy and BP Othello (ISH)

The 6-year-old World Championship final saw another Irish medal win as Tyrone’s Niamh McEvoy with the Ennisnag Stud-bred BP Othello (ISH) claimed the silver medal. Dutch rider Max van de Poll and Ortane were the only combination to jump double clear to take the gold medal while McEvoy’s single fence down in 43.19 second was the fastest four fault score to take the silver ahead of Belgium’s Thibeau Spits and Touch of Joy Dwerse Hagen in Bronze.

When asked what makes the Irish so successful at the Lanaken World Championships, silver medal winner McEvoy said:

“I think the Irish horses. We have great horses and Lanaken is something a lot of us aim for. We have a great production system in Ireland and Ballypatrick is a big breeding operation and so is Marion Hughes [HHS Stud] and Ger O’Neill [Castlefield Sport Horses]. BP Othello is actually owned by my cousin Michael Roche. he actually bought him in Ballypatrick Auction as a three-year-old and Michael got a new job and so I took over the ride on him about two months ago before the Dublin Horse Show where we have our National Championships. He was the 6-year-old Irish champion there so that qualified him for here so we decided we would take him here. He is a phenomenal horse, he is so careful and so much scope.”

Eoin Brennan and Augustus Z

A phenomenal day for the Irish continued in the curtain-closing 7-year-old final where Kilkenny’s Eoin Brennan and Augustus Z won the gold medal. Brennan’s sensational second round clear in 35.20 seconds saw him edge Belgium’s Niels van Rossem who took silver aboard Speedy van Klapscheut, while the bronze went to Frenchman Thibault Thevenon with ICI et la Courcelle. Four Irish riders finished in the top eight with Leah Stack finishing fourth with Aggie van de Start Z. Niamh McEvoy fifth with Boleybawn Alvaro (ISH) and Michael Pender eighth with HHS Venice (ISH).

Speaking afterwards, Eoin Brennan outlined how Augustus Z has overcome a setback early in his career:

“He is an amazing horse. We bred him at home ourselves and when he was a three-year-old, he had an accident on the walker and suffered neurological problems. After about a week these problems developed and he has a very bad stringhalt when he walks . After that we gave him a few months in the field, not sure if it was going to get any better but thankfully it never stopped him from cantering or jumping – his jump has always been amazing. So I competed him as a four and five year-old and he has always been an incredible horse for me.”

“We have a great team behind us. Emer Power is here for the week grooming and looking after him and she puts in incredible effort. We have a great team at home, my father [Tim Brennan] who puts in a lot of effort in the breeding programme and looking after the horses and he is also a vet himself so it’s very handy at home he can keep the horses right for me.”

Irish Horse Board Director General Alison Corbally added

“What a fantastic result for Irish horses and riders once again at these World Breeding Championships in Lanaken. Over 700 horses started the competition at the start of the week and of the nine World Championship medals up for grabs, Ireland managed to win four of them which is just amazing. Congratulations to all of the riders, their support staff, owners and of course all of the Irish breeders who again made this a Championship to remember.”

BREEDING

Tysons Lady Lux (ISH)
2020 bay mare, by Tyson (KWPN) out of Lux Brigade (ISH) by Lux Z (HANN).
Bred by Shay Hesnan, Co. Dublin.
Owned by Martin Egan, Co. Wicklow.
Ridden by Jason Foley (IRL)

BP Othello (ISH)
2019 chestnut gelding by Ganesh Hero Z (ZANG), out Adelheid (KWPN), by Tygo (KWPN).
Bred by Ennisnag Stud, Co. Kilkenny.
Owned by Michael & Fiona Roche, Co. Tyrone.
Ridden by Niamh McEvoy (IRL)

BOLEYBAWN ALVARO (ISH)
2018 bay stallion, by Dominator 2000 Z (ZANG) out of Arina (BWP), by Crown Z (ZANG).
Bred by Ronan Rothwell, Co. Wicklow.
Owned by GBBS International Ltd. & Ronan Rothwell.
Ridden by Niamh McEvoy (IRL)


HHS VENICE (ISH)
2018 chestnut mare, by Emerald Van’t Ruythershof (KWPN) out of HHS Fairy Fort (ISH), by Heritage Fortunus (HANN)
Bred and owned by Bravo Hughes Ltd., Co. Kilkenny. Ridden by Mikey Pender (IRL)