A new RDS Arena for new dreams

Niamh McEvoy can’t wait to return to the Laya Arena, which holds over 20,000 and is unveiling its €52m refurbishment this week.

MANE EVENT: Showjumper Niamh McEvoy at the newly transformed Laya Arena ahead of the Dublin Horse Show. Pic: Dan Sheridan/Inpho

EVERYONE who has ever jumped in the Dublin Horse Show remembers their first time entering the iconic Laya Arena and Niamh McEvoy’s debut was certainly memorable.

She was riding two ponies in the U12 competition, the so-called ‘12.2s’ that is a rite of passage for every wannabe Irish jumper. Long official titles illustrate a jumping horse’s bloodlines but every rider in the world has their own pet-name for their equine best friends. 

Those official 12.2 entries listed McEvoy riding ‘Jacodi’s Anja’s Admiral’ and ‘Sparkling Majestic Caesar’ but, to her, they were simply Jodie and Caesar.

Her first round came to an abrupt stop when Jodie ‘put down’, as they say in the trade, and she bit the sand.

“I fell off at the very, very far side of the arena. Thankfully he didn’t run away on me and I was able to get back up. Then I went out on Caesar and he was brilliant. He jumped again the following year and was placed all the way through.”

McEvoy’s grandfather was a horse breeder and dealer and, though her parents were a teacher and solicitor, they kept a small yard with a handful of rides. The only way to stop her crying as a baby, apparently, was to sit her up on Huckleberry, her first pony.

She started properly when she was five, first competed in Dublin at 10, and is now regarded as one of the most exciting young prospects in the game. While finishing secondary school in Loreto Convent, Omagh, she promised her parents that she would go to college after taking a gap year to work full-time with horses but formal schooling has never resumed.

“I think they would love me to have had a back-up plan,” she grins, “but I think they’ve gotten a lot out of it too.”

They did, surely, as she won a team gold at the European Pony Championships in 2019, a Junior European team bronze in 2022, and team silver at last year’s European U21 Championships.

Placing 10th in the Grand Prix in Dublin when she was still just 18 altered the trajectory of her life, as did joining Olympian Greg Broderick’s 350-acre Ballypatrick operation, near Borrisoleigh. She dominated the domestic circuit last year and scored her first five-star win on Irish soil, opening the door to more elite international competitions.

She was still only 21 when Jessica Kurten gave her a five-star Nations Cup debut in Abu Dhabi in February and jumped clear. 

She has since risen from 28th to 11th in the FEI World U25 rankings. In the past two years, McEvoy has climbed over 300 places in the world senior rankings, currently at 148th thanks “to a brilliant string of horses” provided by Broderick.

She won the big feature class, the Dublin Stakes, on the penultimate day of the Gallagher Dublin Horse Show last year and her big focus this week is the five-star Rolex Grand Prix on Sunday, when she will partner either Ollie (Olympic) or Rocketman (BP Rocketman). 

Rocketman, a nine-year-old who has already competed in a five-star Nations Cup, is tipped for as big a future as his rider, who has already established a world-class partnership with Ollie. Owned by Keith Ennis from Kildare, he stands over 17 hands high.

“He’s huge and makes me look small but he’s like a big, friendly, kind giant. He always tries his absolute best and is really consistent,” she explains. “He was brilliant last year to become National Champion and then did a double clear at a Nations Cup in Spain at the end of the year. This season, he was clear in the Nations Cup and fifth in the Grand Prix in Abu Dhabi and he went on to win another Grand Prix (in Andalusia) a few weeks later.”

She can’t wait to return to the Laya Arena, which holds over 20,000 and is unveiling its €52m refurbishment this week. Her first event is this morning and she’ll be flat out with six horses over the next five days, concentrating on international events.

“I had 11 horses last year, which was a bit crazy but lovely too, to try out everything. Straight after I won the ‘Stakes’, I was back over to Simmons-court to jump the four-year-old final and won that class as well. That was a great day and, the following one, I won the six-year-old championship.

“We jump at a lot of shows in brilliant venues but Dublin is the best. The ground is incredible in the Laya Arena but it’s the atmosphere especially. I can’t really explain it but at the Dublin Horse Show you just feel everyone’s behind you. You don’t feel like that anywhere else in the world.”

McEvoy and her equine partners may grab a few more headlines this week but she stresses that many hours and hidden helpers are behind them.

“What you do in the ring is only a small part of it. We’re only in the arena for 60 or 70 seconds but behind us are months and years of preparation and there’s always 15 people at the pocket waiting for us. I have an incredible team behind me.

“Obviously I work for Greg, who is such a brilliant mentor and coach. He guides me in everything and his sisters are also involved in the business. It’s a real family operation at Ballypatrick.

“Lisa Bushaway is like my right-hand woman. She’s fantastic, looks after the horses perfectly, organises everything, and goes everywhere with me. Another great fella, Daragh Gunning, gives us a hand as well and there’s also all the people who look after the horses like farriers, vets, horse dentists, and physios. Jumping is a massive team effort and having good people around you is probably the most important part of it.

“Like any sport, there’s going to be more bad days than good days. That’s inevitable so you really need to be working with people that are always motivating and good for your head.”

• The Gallagher Dublin Horse Show takes place from August 5 to 9.