Born in the USA: The Boss cheers on Aga Khan win at RDS

It might not have been Ladies Day at the Dublin Horse Show yesterday but sisters were still doing it for themselves.

The US showjumping team — which almost uniquely in equestrian sport had a majority of female riders, including Jessica Springsteen — triumphed in the hotly-contested Nations Cup to lift the Aga Khan trophy.

The victory was warmly greeted by large crowds at the RDS with no greater cheerleaders than Jessica’s parents, Bruce Springsteen and Patti Scialfa.

It was a nice role reversal as Jessica has more regularly been in the RDS to cheer on her father at one of his concerts at the Ballsbridge venue.

Yesterday’s experience clearly cemented The Boss and his family’s love affair with Ireland and in particular their special relationship with the RDS, not that it was ever really in doubt.

A clearly delighted rock star, who has been a daily attendant at the Dublin Horse Show, gave his daughter a victory ‘thumbs-up’ as the US team which also consisted of Charlie Jayne, Katherine Dinan and Elizabeth Madden collected the Aga Khan trophy at the award ceremony.

“My horse jumped amazing. I was really happy to jump a double clear round,” beamed Jessica.

Anyone who backed the US team to win with Jessica scoring two no-fault rounds would also have been happy at odds of 10/1.

Asked later about the pride he felt for his daughter, Springsteen smiled: “absolutely” before being whisked away in a waiting limousine from an army of well-wishers.

The Irish team of Darragh Kenny, Bertram Allen, Cian O’Connor and Dermott Lennon never looked like winning following the failure of all four riders to go clear in the first round which left Ireland in seventh place with too much to make up and they eventually finished in a disappointing joint sixth position.

Among those in attendance yesterday was President Michael D Higgins, who said the Dublin Horse Show was one of those events for which he was happy to interrupt his holidays every August to attend.

“I do enjoy it always. The show itself has a very wide reach across Ireland. And it’s a good day out,” observed the President.

Heavy downpours replaced the sunshine of earlier in the week making for difficult conditions for horses, riders and day-trippers, although it provided for a bumper day for the hundreds of exhibitors at the indoor trade stands as crowds flocked to the shelter offered by the RDS Main Hall.

Meanwhile, it was iron horses and fears of Irish commuters resorting to transport by shank’s mare that were on the mind of Transport and Tourism Minister Paschal Donohoe.

Mr Donohoe called on Irish Rail workers to call off a planned series of one-day strikes which threaten transport chaos on the days of the All-Ireland hurling and football finals in September, as well as a 48-hour stoppage from August 24.

“None of these strikes should go ahead,” said the minister during a visit to the RDS. “The measures that are being taken are absolutely vital to ensure the viability of the company at the moment and the viability of the company in the future.”

Commenting on a Fáilte Ireland report that has warned about a shortage of tourism accommodation in Dublin, particularly hotel bedrooms, Mr Donohoe said the issue needed to be looked at in the context of an overall property shortage in the capital in a number of areas, including residential housing and high quality office space.

“I am extremely reluctant at this stage to be looking at specific tax measures that are going to focus on individual areas because I’ve seen the great difficulty they created in the past,” the minister remarked.

Mr Donohoe said his visit to the Dublin Horse Show was to lend his support to the equestrian tourism sector, which attracts 99,000 overseas visitors each year, and is worth more than €100m to the economy.