THE man who managed Ireland to their first Nations Cup victory in seven years at the RDS Dublin Horse Show last month was accorded a hero’s welcome as he brought the world renowned Aga Khan trophy home to Tuamgraney on Wednesday evening.
Michael Blake was lauded by senior officials from the RDS and Horse Sport Ireland (HSI) for the key role he played as Chef d’Équipe in leading Team Ireland to victory in the prestigious showjumping event.
This coveted show jumping trophy was presented to, Michael, and his team, by President Michael D Higgins in August.
It followed a nail-biting jump-off against France in front of a capacity audience at the RDS. This thrilling victory ensured the return of the Aga Khan Cup to Ireland after a seven-year gap.
Michael was joined by two members of Team Ireland – Tipperary’s Max Wachman and Meath’s Cian O’Connor.
Hundreds of spectators packed the East Clare Memorial Park, with many watching from outside the perimeter wall, as Michael brought the glittering Aga Khan cup up to an open topped platform for a special civic homecoming cermony.
Michael told the crowd a lot of planning was required to win the Aga Khan trophy and qualify for the Olympics in less than a week.
“We were very happy it was a fantastic year. We won a Nations Cup on four different continents this year, which is not easy to do.
“We started in Dubai in January, then we moved to America and Canada, which is not really a different continent and then the world championships where we needed to get a result, which we did and then Dublin.
“People said it would be difficult to get both done. We had to think long and hard about how we would split the team and whether we should just go for the Olympics and get that done and put all our eggs in one basket. We discussed it as a team and a group and felt that we had enough horses and riders to do both.
“For a minute or two in both places it was feeling very lonely but in the end it all worked out. In six and half days our world changed, we got the Olympic qualification and and the Aga Khan trophy, which was really fantastic.”
Asked by Master of Ceremonies, Brendan McArdle when theses victories sunk in, Michael stressed while he had a plan, these great successes were achieved by the whole team who had to cooperate fully with him to ensure things could go well and the input of some very good riders.
Michael admitted it is not easy to do well by trying to qualify for the Olympics and trying to win The Nations Cup.
At the start of the year, he recalled setting out his plan.
“I called all the riders at the start of the year and said I need you to go to this show and this show. I need you to be at specific Nations Cups. But I also need you to miss some shows. You can’t just decide to be a team jumper, you have to be prepared to miss a good pay day somewhere else.
“Irish people are good to follow the plan. You can’t go to the world championships and go to Dublin and be somewhere three weeks earlier and think you are going to win them all you are not.
“You have to target what you want to do. That is what we are good at targeting our aims and trying to follow them through.”
Asked about his tactics for the jump off, Michael recalled he always felt Ireland would be in the jump off but thought it would be on zero.
“I was a bit disappointed we were on four faults. We thought we would finish on zero. We put Conor Swail in first for two reasons – if the time was tight his horse was quick so we wouldn’t incur a time fault. Some of the horses are younger so we could give them more time to ensure they jumped clear.
“Cian O’Connor kept us in the game and Conor put the ball in the net,” he said.
The Nations Cup victory at the Dublin Horse Show was the 24th time that Ireland has won the Aga Khan since 1926.
It is one of the stand out moments of a great year for Irish horse sport, which included several European and World Championship medal wins, and the important team qualification for the Olympic Games in Paris in two years’ time.
A more comprehensive report of the civic ceremony will appear in next Thursday’s Clare Champion.
East Clare correspondent, Dan Danaher is a journalism graduate of Rathmines and UL. He has won numerous awards for special investigations on health, justice, environment, and reports on news, agriculture, disability, mental health and community.