Major Irish-built equestrian venture in China nears completion

There is a piece of land on the eastern tip of China's third-largest island, Chongming, that will be forever Ireland, once Irish architect and breeder Jimmy Quinn and his wife Edel Burke-Quinn complete their plans to build an equestrian centre.

Featuring 500 Irish horses and staffed by 200 people, including a large contingent of Irish equestrian professionals on the 600-acre site near Shanghai, the centre will include two arenas with seating for up to 20,000 spectators, state-of-the-art veterinary facilities, stables to permanently house more than 1,000 animals and a cross-country course originally designed by the late Tommy Brennan for the Olympics in 2008.

The €500 million Dongtan Chenyia Equestrian Centre is due to open in spring of next year, pending approval from the central government. The plans and land sales have all been agreed, along with the lengthy process of meeting government officials, who want to see what benefits the development will bring to the people of the island and to Shanghai as a whole.

“We saw the niche there. In Ireland we take our equestrian skills for granted, and there’s a great market here, especially if education is at the forefront of the whole enterprise,” said Quinn.

Horse riding is proving popular among the emerging middle class, although horse racing has failed to take off because gambling is outlawed – a ban that is unlikely to be lifted any time soon.

“We will bring over the professional people from Ireland – farriers, veterinary, nutritionists, teaching how to grow rye grass, everything – and build a centre of excellence,” he said.

Developers

Initial contacts came via Galway businessman

Charlie Coughlan

, through whom the couple met various developers in

China

.

“Basically we are selling a concept and a lifestyle,” said Burke-Quinn. “We see a major need for education on the whole area of horse husbandry. It has to be to a certain standard.”

Ex-racehorses tend not to suitable as riding horses for beginners because thoroughbreds are very highly strung, but the potential for the temperamentally gentle Irish draught horse and the Connemara pony is huge.

Dongtan, a development on the eastern tip of Chongming Island, has had a difficult genesis. In the early 2000s, Dongtan was touted as China’s top eco-city, tapped to become a Manhattan-sized, energy self-sufficient, carbon-neutral, largely car-free model of sustainability.

However, the project collapsed in the wake of a corruption crackdown in Shanghai and because of issues over financing.

Now, the city government is keen to get things going again on Chongming. A bridge was recently constructed linking Shanghai to the island and plans are being considered to build a metro line linking Chongming to Shanghai’s new commercial centre, Pudong.

Quinn’s background is in project management and architecture. He worked as an inspector for the buildings department in New York city for many years and did city planning. The couple moved back to Ireland in 2007.

“When the crash came in Ireland at the end of 2008, everything changed overnight. There was no downturn; it just collapsed,” said Quinn.

“We’re not driven by money, as my history will prove,” he said, laughing. “We were faced with the dilemma of having the largest herd of privately owned Irish bred draught horses and a few Connemara ponies, nearly 150 animals, and what to do if there is no market and how do you feed them,” said Quinn.

Fact-finding mission

“Then we thought, all this money just didn’t disappear, it had to go somewhere. And all the factors were pointing to China. It’s the new economy, becoming more and more westernised,” said Quinn.

In January 2013, the couple came on a fact-finding mission to Shanghai, Tianjin, Qingdao and Hangzhou, and had a series of meetings with government officials, as well as investors.

“The timing was brilliant, and they arranged for us to go out with the Chongming island group to see if they would be receptive to this sort of thing, and we clearly ticked all the boxes,” he said.

In China, property developers build golf courses or polo grounds with a view to selling the surrounding property, rather than from any particular interest in the sports in question. However, it is the luxury facilities that draw in the investors, and the second phase of the project will include a five-star hotel, villas and apartments.

The aim is for the centre to be up with world-class facilities such as Wellington in Britain or Tryon in North Carolina. But as well as teaching young middle-class Chinese to ride, the professional element will be very strong.

“We will set up a breeding programme so we can bring in the best mares in the world, let China implement its own breeding programme. Artificial insemination can be shipped overnight. The quarantine issue has been freed up,” said Quinn.

“At the same time, we’re not coming over here to sell horses. We’re not dealers, and the Belgians, the Dutch and the Germans have been doing that for 10 or 15 years,” he said.

One issue to deal with is that the Chinese think of Ireland as being very far away, although as Quinn points out, it is nearer to Shanghai than New Zealand. A direct flight would be a big help.

Looking forward, Quinn hopes the centre will become part of China’s bid for Olympic success in equestrianism. This is a sport where technically buying the right horse means you effectively buy the right athlete, hence the success of countries like Qatar and others in the discipline.

“All of the horses will come from Ireland and mainland Europe. If they do want Olympic horses you might have to go to Australia or New Zealand, but we will be pushing for Irish horses. I’ve great belief in the Irish,” he said.