OPENING DAY:DESPITE ATROCIOUS weather in Dublin yesterday morning, crowds flocked to the RDS Showgrounds for the opening day of the 135th Dublin Horse Show which will run until Sunday evening.
The event, which claims to be among the top three such events in the world, was officially opened by the Lord Mayor of Dublin, Councillor Eibhlin Byrne, who arrived in the famous mayoral coach which was built in 1789.
Her arrival appeared to lift the gloom and by late afternoon, the sun was shining on the 42-acre site which this week will see 12 major international jumping competition, 35 national jumping competitions and 95 showing classes.
The Lord Mayor recalled that her daughter used to prance around the living room as a child when she was supposed to be studying ballet, pretending to be Eddie Macken who was her favourite celebrity.
The Longford rider, who had been asked by the society to jump at this year's event, was receiving a lot of attention yesterday as the public waited for him to break the long absence which kept him from the showjumping rings here for the last eight years.
He no longer lives in Ireland but in Canada and, at 58, people were wishing to see the Irish icon perform again as he did in the past when, as part of the Nations' Cup team, he won nine times, as well as winning three Puissance events and one Grand Prix.
Earlier in the day, RDS chief executive Michael Duffy said the society was delighted that Mr Macken had accepted its invitation to attend and to make himself available for the Irish squad in the Nations' Cup which will take place on Friday.
Mr Duffy was sticking to his prediction earlier this week on radio that by Sunday next between 80,000 and 100,000 people will have passed through the RDS turnstiles to support the event.
He was happy, he said, that the jumping arena and the grounds were holding up well under the wet weather and that patrons would benefit from the new facilities on which the society had spent €7.5 million over the past few years.
Mr Duffy also defended the slight increase in the price of tickets for the event this year saying that, given the range of events available all day to those who came to the show, the entrance fee represented good value for money.
And on the question of value, Horse Sport Ireland announced that it is to introduce an approval process for sellers and suppliers of Irish sport horses.
This will result in the publication of an approved list of sellers and suppliers which will be made available to prospective sport horse purchasers from at home and abroad.
Joe Walsh, chairman of the new governing body for the industry, said that it was important that purchasers from abroad, and Irish people who were getting involved in the sector for the first time, could have confidence in those from whom they purchased horses.
"While most horse sellers and suppliers do a very good and fair job, we want to ensure that new entrants to the industry are confident with the high standards available to them in the sport horse sector. As an industry we need to set higher standards," said the former minister for agriculture.
The show continues today.