France’s Faustin Forrest and Danaos de Gece. Photo by Tilly Berendt.
We’re coming to you this week from Co. Cork, Ireland, where Millstreet International Horse Trials is hosting the first-ever FEI World Eventing Championship for Under-25s. But before we get into the nitty-gritty of the competition, we wanted to take a moment to acknowledge the unique discomfort of being at an event right now.
Just a handful of days has passed since the tragic passing of Sophie Fouracre and Kerry Donoghue, both of whom died in cross-country accidents at British events. Four days is not enough time to process, to grieve, to regroup; those who have lost loved ones will readily tell you that four years would barely scratch the surface. At EN, we can do our best to reduce the relentlessness of the news cycle by easing back on coverage and allowing space for these stories, and the memories of these much-loved women, to breathe; what we cannot do is slow the ongoing march of the season. There is no doubt that we all need to pause and to mourn. The inherent restlessness of sport doesn’t allow for that.
So it’s particularly important to us to make sure that every day, while we honour our commitments to our readers, to the sponsors, and to the riders and their teams who have worked so tirelessly to get to this momentous occasion, we also sit with the absurdity of it carrying on with it at all. Kerry and Sophie’s deaths are not just another news story, nor are they simply a milestone in the ongoing development of the sport. Theirs are two lives that were unique and irreplicable. They were two women who were once little girls who loved ponies; they were mothers, daughters, friends, wives; they had hopes, dreams, fears, wonderful attributes, bad habits, charms, foibles – all the ephemera and complexity of human life when it is lived completely. The cruelty of their loss, and the immense pain it will cause for so many people who cared for them, doesn’t expire or fade into the background just because another event has begun.
Our focus this week, therefore, will be, yes, on the competition itself as usual – but also on community, and the people within our sport who are at their best when banding together to prop one another up. This year’s championship season will be, more than ever, both a communal coming-together in mourning but also a squeeze of the hand, a reminder of why it is we keep forging on. Within that there will be investigations and recalibrations and necessary reflections on how our sport can improve; for now, it’s just as crucial that there’s space and time.
We will be sharing some resources at the beginning of every report this week, which are available to support you as needed in the aftermath of Kerry and Sophie’s passing.
Anyone affected is encouraged to seek support through the British Eventing Support Trust Helpline, which is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, on 07780 008877. You can also access support via Riders Minds, which offers live text support, a helpline, and a web chat. Look after one another, too – check in, reach out, and lean on the community.
Germany’s Calvin Böckmann, who is ranked Number One in the FEI Under-25 world rankings, with Altair de la Cense. Photo by Tilly Berendt.
40 horse and riders presented for the first inspection here at Millstreet, which was overseen by Ground Jury President James Rooney of Ireland, as well as the USA’s Robyn Fisher and Great Britain’s Angela Tucker. Those 40 partnership represent fourteen nations, five of which will field teams this week: Great Britain, the USA, Germany, Ireland, and France.
Lisa Gaultieri and A d’Aunis. Photo by Tilly Berendt.
But it was that latter team that had the most day-one stress to contend with. Two of the country’s six squad members were sent to the holding box; both, after a tense re-presentation and some deliberation, were happily accepted into the competition. They were Lisa Gualtieri and A d’Aunis, her own sixteen-year-old Selle Français, with whom she won individual silver in 2024’s FEI Young Rider European Championships, and Verane Nicaud and Eau Vive de Brenne AA, a twelve-year-old daughter of Upsilon, who makes her debut for France with Verane, a team gold medallist at last year’s Young Rider Europeans.
Great Britain’s experienced five-star partnership, Alice Casburn and Topspin. Photo by Tilly Berendt.
After those two hitches, though, it was all plain sailing for our competitors, and the full cohort will now proceed into the first phase, which kicks off tomorrow at 14.00 local time (that’s 9.00 a.m. EST, which feels like a much more sociable wake-up call than we usually drop on you from this side of the pond). We’re still awaiting the release of the starting order to see who our pathfinder will be, which will be contingent on how the individual riders are slotted in with the team riders, but in the meantime we do have the nations’ draw, which sees the teams go as follows:
- Great Britain
- USA
- France
- Ireland
- Germany
Olivia Dutton and Jewelent for the USA. Photo by Tilly Berendt.
Before we can even think about dressage, though, we’re heading back out for this evening’s opening ceremony, which will kick off at 18.00 in the main arena and take a tour through the village of Millstreet before returning to the venue for a proper little Irish shindig. Keep an eye on our Instagram account for a glimpse of the fun; we’ll be back tomorrow with plenty more coverage from this exciting inaugural championship.
Go Eventing.
FEI Under-25 World Championships at Millstreet, presented by Connolly’s Red Mills: Website | Live Stream | Entries & Scoring | EN’s Coverage
