Kildare's Michael Pender wins third gold medal in Lanaken, Belgium

The incredible record of Irish horses and riders at the FEI WBFSH Jumping World Breeding Championships for young horses at Lanaken in Belgium was further enhanced last week, 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 five-year-old World Championship with HHS Private Ryan, who is owned by Martha Hughes Bravo from Hughes Horse Stud in Cuffesgrange.

Pender posted what proved an unbeatable jump-off time of 38.23 seconds which saw him finish 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.

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 seven-year-old final in 2024 with HHS Mercedes (ISH) while in 2023, he partnered HHS Ocala (ISH) to a Gold medal win in the five-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.

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