EQUESTRIAN/Dublin Horse Show: The Irish Dairy Board, title sponsor of the Dublin Horse Show for the past 14 years under the Kerrygold branding, will no longer be backing the annual Ballsbridge fixture following an announcement yesterday that the Horse Show is now part of the new Samsung Super League.
In a terse, three-paragraph statement, the RDS confirmed its Super League status and that Samsung would be the main sponsor of the show. It is believed Samsung will be backing both the Nations Cup, around which the Super League is based, and the Grand Prix.
Only in the final paragraph of the statement was there any mention of the Irish Dairy Board and its departure from the show.
Under the rules of the Super League, which will involve eight European venues in its inaugural running next season, the minimum prizefund for the Nations Cup itself is 200,000 Swiss Francs - approximately €140,000 and more than twice what was paid out to the teams at this year's Kerrygold Horse Show.
Bord Fáilte has already rowed in with a €175,000 annual package for the Horse Show and its support is briefly acknowledged in the RDS statement.
"We've had many good years, we've enjoyed it and it's been good commercially," Irish Dairy Board managing director Dr Noel Cawley said yesterday.
