Paul Darragh, one of Ireland's best-known showjumpers has died suddenly at his home in Co Meath. The 51-year-old is believed to have suffered a heart attack. Born in Dublin in April 1953 to Dr Austin Darragh and his wife Terry, Paul swiftly cut a swathe through the pony showjumping ranks, winning endless classes with his top pony, Peggy Sue.

Trained by the legend Iris Kellett, the young Paul Darragh's graduation onto horses was marked with an individual silver medal at the 1969 junior European championships in Dinard, France. Twelve months later he was part of Ireland's bronze medal-winning team and the following year won team gold at the junior championships in Hickstead. In a jump-off for the individual title he missed double gold by a mere tenth of a second.

Darragh made his Nations' Cup debut in 1972 and went on to represent his country a further 53 times on Nations' Cup teams, most notably in the triple Aga Khan-winning team between 1977 and 1979 when he joined forces with Eddie Macken, Con Power and James Kernan to claim the prestigious Gold Cup outright for Ireland.

He was probably best known for his partnership with the mare Heather Honey. Owned by Jimmy Flynn, the chestnut firecracker with the swishing tail won numerous classes and formed the backbone of Darragh's string of horses when both he and Eddie Macken were sponsored by tobacco company PJ Carroll & Son in the 1970s and '80s.

The speed horse PJ Carroll also produced a succession of victories all over the world, including an incredible four wins at the big German fixture at Aachen in 1979 when Darragh, after seven outright wins, was crowned leading rider.

Four years after his successes at the 1971 juniors in Hickstead, Darragh returned to the Sussex showground with Pele, the horse later renamed Kerrygold, to claim the world-renowned Derby, the year before Eddie Macken claimed the first of his still unequalled four-in-a-row wins with the great Boomerang.

In 1987, Darragh rode Carroll's Trigger to win the Dublin Grand Prix at the RDS and, 10 years later, was on the Aga Khan Cup-winning team with Scandal.

Known to virtually everyone on the showjumping circuit as 'Little P', Paul Darragh gradually withdrew from international competition and moved into training. Probably his most high-profile pupil was Princess Haya, who became the first Jordanian to compete at Olympic level when she rode at the Sydney 2000 Games.

As well as his training and the buying and selling of horses, Darragh was a vocal member of the RDS equestrian committee, wanting to put something back into the sport that had nurtured him since his youth.

He is survived by his wife Jane, daughters Linda and Amy and son Andrew.