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More than a decade on from a famous triumph at Cheltenham, Briar Hill is thriving in his second life showing and is ready to shine at the Dublin Horse Show this weekend.

Now 16, Briar Hill won the 2013 Champion Bumper while trained by Willie Mullins but suffered a fall at the same track the following year, sustaining a facial injury in the process.

His racing career continued until January 2017 and, over the last three-and-a-half years, the son of Shantou has been retrained by his current owner Corinne Doran, who will be on board when the pair take to the Racehorse to Riding Horse stage, sponsored by Irish Thoroughbred Marketing, in Ballsbridge on Saturday.

“Prep is going really well,” Doran said. “He’s keen enough, I’d say he knows there’s something coming up with all the extra grooming and physio he’s getting.

“I’ve never ridden at the RDS and Briar has never been either, so it’s new for us both.

“I’m really excited, and very nervous, but hopefully the excitement overrules the nerves. I might need a lemonade or two to calm me down!

“I have great coaches with me and they have plenty of showing experience, so I’m getting loads of tips and tricks from everybody as well.”

Those tips encompass preparations on and off the track, with Doran given assurances on the finer details such as where to park and which colour tie to wear – ‘they recommend a red one’.

 

 

 

 

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The 29-year-old was an annual attendee at the DHS growing up but had not previously had a horse capable of allowing her to live her dream and ride there – until now.

“We came across him (Briar Hill) in late 2020, early 2021,” she said.

“He came up to our yard where we were doing a bit of retraining. His face has significant damage from his fall at Cheltenham, when he got stood on, and he doesn’t look very pretty to anyone who doesn’t know him.

“He’s very quiet and lovely but pretty sells, so we were saying he’d probably be a hard sell.

“I said I’d hold on to him myself because he was so sweet and so kind, and he took to the retraining like a duck to water.

“He ended up really enjoying it. We still do showjumping and eventing as well but he’s so good at it (showing), we thought we’d keep going with it. He is so willing, so trying – he is lovely.”

Doran’s own introduction to horse riding came at Nuenna Farm Equestrian Centre, two fields across from where she grew up in Freshford.

“I suppose it was for a bit of peace and quiet for my parents, but financially it was probably the worst thing they could have done to drop me down there,” she laughed.

“My family are afraid of horses – if I asked my mother to hold a horse, she’d probably cry – but I fell in love with it.”

After attending Grennan Equestrian College, Doran took on work experience at Andrew Slattery’s yard and started riding out, ‘getting the bug’ for working with thoroughbreds.

Briar Hill will not be the only star name on show this weekend and Doran has hailed the opportunity to show how many former racehorses are flourishing in their lives beyond the track.

“It’s so important and it’s really picked up in the last two years,” she said.

“It’s really good to see not just the big names in racing, but the ones who haven’t run or weren’t so successful, out parading. They are so well looked after and the majority have a great life afterwards.”

Pictures courtesy of John O'Carroll and David Betts