JUMPING In The City, which was announced in Dublin this morning (Wednesday), is a radical new initiative to bring show jumping into greyhound stadia in Irish cities during the summer.
Launched at Shelbourne Park Greyhound Stadium by Simon Coveney TD, Minister for Agriculture, Food, the Marine and Defence, Jumping In The City will take place in greyhound stadia in Limerick, Cork and Dublin on Friday nights during the month of June. It hopes to attract not just show jumping fans but also people looking for an alternative experience on their Friday night out.
Run by Horse Sport Ireland in conjunction with the Irish Greyhound Board and Show Jumping Ireland, Jumping In The City will see three different classes of competition each night, including an amateur series for grassroots riders, a Grand Prix for Ireland’s top riders and the big crowd favourite – a puissance where riders try to jump a huge red wall as it is built progressively higher.
The series begins in Limerick on Friday June 5th, moves to Cork on Friday June 12th, with the series reaching its finale in Shelbourne Park, Dublin on Friday June 26th. All events start at 6.30 and will run to 11pm.
“Recognising that the Sport Horse sector contributes in excess of €700m to the economy annually, I was delighted to be in a position to allocate extra funding to Horse Sport Ireland in budget 2015. Some of the extra funding is being used for this initiative which is part of Horse Sport Ireland’s programme to implement the recommendations in the “Reaching New Heights” strategy document that I recently launched.”
The Jumping In The City Series will be in support of Special Olympics Ireland Equestrian Athletes travelling to represent Ireland at the World Summer Games 2015.
Admission prices at each venue will be as follows:
€15 general admission
€10 OAP/Student
Children under 14 free if accompanied by an adult
€59.50 per corporate ticket, €220 for a table of four
Event details
The series will take place in three venues from 7pm to 10pm.
Friday 5th June Limerick Greyhound stadium
Friday 12th June Cork Greyhound stadium
Friday 26th June Shelbourne Park Greyhound stadium Dublin
The classes
There will be three classes each night
6.30pm Westwood/Ifor Williams trailers Amateur Series (max 16 athletes)
8pm Grand Prix (max 16 athletes)
9pm 6 horse Puissance max (6 athletes)
10pm Prize Giving ceremony on foot (Amateur, Puissance and Grand Prix)