Big increase in entries for annual Millstreet show
The influx of riders and their mounts represents a 20% increase in entries for the 110 classes offering more than €190,000 in prize money over six days.
The show comes just days after the venue staged the European Ponies Championships to much acclaim. It was estimated to be worth many millions of euro to the region and saw Green Glens proprietor Noel C Duggan state his intention to apply to host the World Equestrian Games in 2022. In 2008, Millstreet offered to host the 2014 games, due to begin on Aug 23 in France with Alltech, owned by Irishman Pearse Lyons, as the title sponsor.
Lyons had offered €10m towards the cost of staging the event in Ireland, but Horse Sport Ireland rejected it after a feasibility study.
Meanwhile, the action at Millstreet began yesterday, with the first international class set for tomorrow. Competition is expected to be intense, with the likes of Ireland’s Olympic bronze medallist Cian O’Connor, former world champion Dermott Lennon and fellow nations cup riders, Billy Twomey and Capt Michael Kelly taking on competitors from Britain, Canada, Spain, South Africa, Thailand and Switzerland.
The highlight of the show will be Sunday’s €50,000 Millstreet International Grand Prix, with Britain’s Ellen Whitaker bidding to retain her title. She will be joined by three other members of the legendary Whitaker family, plus the 2012 Millstreet GP winner Anna Edwards, and compatriots Laura Renwick, on the British team that placed third in the nations cup in Spain last week, and rising star Holly Gillott, as well as Scotland’s Douglas Duffin.
Entry to the show is free.
