Ireland's team gold medal in last month's European show jumping championships has attracted huge interest in Irish-bred horses which could turn the Kerrygold Horse Show into the best trading event of recent years. The show begins at the RDS today.
Four Irish sport horses have been sold out of the country for £100,000 each in recent weeks and one owner is said to have turned down £300,000 for an eight-year-old horse.
The gold medal win and Dermott Lennon's continued success with Liscalgot, and Kevin Babington's recent British Grand Prix win at Hickstead with Carling King, have rekindled foreign interest in Irish breeding.
The international media focus on our successes has meant buyers have been flocking to Ireland to buy a piece of the action.
Switzerland's Max Hauri, a fan of Irish bloodlines, is in Dublin for this week's show, along with US team member Rich Fellers and other American buyers.
Despite a strong Dutch breeding programme, Jan Tops and Paul Hendrix are in Dublin this week to view Irish equine talent.
Trade was virtually non-existent during the foot-and-mouth crisis. The lifting of foot-and-mouth restrictions and the Irish show jumping team's success have combined to bring about the greatest influx of buyers this country has seen for some time.
Public interest in the show is also up, according to the RDS, with a huge jump in pre-bookings for the event where trade stands were sold out.
Mr Gerry McAuliffe, show director, said the event would provide a meeting place for horse lovers unable to meet before due to the foot-and-mouth outbreak in March.
The first of the international jumping events, The Kerrygold Speed Stakes, gets under way at 9.45 a.m. and the judging of horses at 9 a.m. in Ring 8 in the Simmonscourt extension.
Some 1,660 horses and ponies will pass through the showgrounds over the next five days.