Reports were sweeping the RDS showgrounds last night that a US consortium had offered €1 million for an Irish-bred horse from a breeder in Co Cork.
It ignited the Dublin Horse Show where for many years the sale of horses has been in decline.
Up until the early 1980s buyers would visit the Dublin Horse Show not only to monitor the jumping but to buy stock. Most notable of these was Italian tenor Pavarotti.
But more recently, when even Irish teams were mounted on foreign-bred horses, that trade declined and fewer buyers visited the show because of the decline in Irish-bred horses.
While wheeler-dealers and others were offering the name of the owner of the €1 million horse along with a mobile telephone number on which to contact him, he was not available for confirmation or comment last night.
However, the news has focused the attention of the horse industry here on the availability of Irish-bred showjumping horses which are bred from Irish draught mares crossed with thoroughbred stallions.
The mares, the workhorses of the past, have provided the basis of the Irish showjumping industry for many years but now, according to the experts, there is a major doubt about their future.
This is because many breeders will keep the mares for breeding but get little or no support to keep the Irish draught stallions needed to keep the Irish draught breed afloat.
This year at the show there has been an attempt to promote the breeding of Irish draught horses and a special class has been established for Irish draught stallions which serious breeders say have dwindled to around six.
Breeders have been importing "warm blood" horses from the Continent to keep the draught horses going but this is diluting the Irish bloodline.
However, chairman of the Irish Horse Board Michael Osborne has said there is no fear of the Irish draught horse breed disappearing from the land despite reports of falling numbers.
On Wednesday night at a book launch, he said the breed had been listed by the World Watch list for Domestic Animal Diversity as "endangered maintained" which meant that while it was not in immediate danger of extinction, its survival hinged on a concerted effort.
He said the horse board philosophy was that if Ireland had to go anywhere in the sport horse world, it would have to go back to the basics, the Irish draught and mare.
"We have to go back there and keep that at all costs. The Irish Horse Board and the RDS together have been funding as best we can to keep people in the business. The last thing we want to see is people getting out," he said.
He praised the Garda Horse Squad which was doing its bit by including the Irish draught breed in its mounts.
Meanwhile, all eyes will be on the Irish national jumping squad today for the Nations Cup following the fall sustained yesterday by controversial Olympic rider, Cian O'Connor.
Ireland are rank outsiders at 14-1 to retain the trophy they won in such style here last year.