Irish bred event horses bound for 2017 Rolex Kentucky CCI4*

Francis Murray General April 19, 2017

The Rolex CCI4* will take place in Lexington, Kentucky from 27^th-30^th April 2017 and Irish bred horses are out in full force to compete for the winning title.

Irish Horse Gateway will host a trade stand in the Sponsors Village at booth 16 as well as organising a cross country course walk and autograph signings. Dates and times are yet to be confirmed for these events, so make sure to keep up to date with our social media pages:

FACEBOOK

TWITTER

There are 64 horses in total competing in the CCI4* and Irish Horses account for 34% of these entries. Both Irish representatives, Aidan Keogh & Tim Bourke, ride Irish Sport Horses as well as both New Zealand representatives, Tim Price & Joe Meyer. 39% of USA representatives are riding Irish bred horses.

Bay My Hero (ISH) was the last Irish Sport Horse to win the CCI4* class with William Fox-Pitt (GBR) in 2014 & Connaught (ISH) before him in 2008 with USA rider Phillip Dutton, who also claimed 4^th place last year with Mighty Nice (ISH). 2016 saw 5 Irish Sport Horses inside the top 20; Luckaun Quality (ISH) ridden by Timothy Bourke (IRL), Fernhill Fugative (ISH) ridden by Phillip Dutton (USA), Harbour Pilot (ISH) ridden by Hannah Sue Burnett (USA) and Copper Beech (ISH) ridden by Bruce (Buck) Davidson (USA). All of these combinations will be competing again this year and Team Ireland rider Tim Bourke’s Luckaun Quality (ISH) makes his 4^th appearance at Rolex Kentucky this year.

Ballynoe Castle RM (ISH) will be officially retiring at Rolex this year on Sunday 30^th. The 16 year old Irish Sport Horse surpassed Winsome Adante as the overall points leader in USEA history in 2015, with a total of 1,377 points accumulated. He currently has 1,676 points. His numerous career highlights include six CCI4* completions, including Badminton and Burghley, where he finished 11th in 2009. He also won the USET Foundation Pinnacle Cup at Rolex Kentucky in 2013 with a third-place finish and was named Best Conditioned Horse the following year at Rolex in 2014 when he finished fourth.

A full list of the Irish bred horses competing in the Rolex CCI4* this weekend can be found HERE