Macken Adds a Little Bit of Magic......

As the 2008 Samsung Super League with FEI series moves to Dublin, Ireland this week for the penultimate leg of the series, the Irish capital city is already buzzing with the news that the great Irish hero, Eddie Macken, is back in town.

It is 10 years since he last jumped on a team here, and he has been selected for the five-strong squad from which manager Robert Splaine will make his selection of four for Friday's coveted Aga Khan trophy.

A great deal hangs in the balance from an Irish perspective - lying second-last on the Samsung Super League with FEI leaderboard they need to ensure they pull further ahead of the last-placed Swedes.  But the Swedish performance in Hickstead two weeks ago was considerably more impressive than of late as they clinched joint-second place while the Irish had to settle for fifth, so just over five points separate the two nations going into Friday's penultimate leg of the series.  The home team needs a good result to ensure they are in no great danger going to the final in Barcelona, Spain next month.

Ask the Irish
Ask anyone Irish whose name first springs to mind when the subject of show jumping arises and the answer is always the same.  Eddie Macken won his way into their hearts during the 1970's due to his fabulous partnership with the great Boomerang and he has never been forgotten.  He may have been off the radar in recent times as he has been living in the USA and, more recently, in Canada but his temporary return has rekindled the respect and admiration he so enjoyed during the height of his career.

Macken learned his trade under the tutelage of former Ladies European Champion Irish Kellett and it was clear from the outset that his was a considerable talent.  "A born horseman" was how the great Hans Gunther Winkler once described him, and anyone who watched him school and jump his horses during those early years could hardly deny the truth of it.  His seat was exceptional and his instinct even more so - he had a gift, and he would realise it to its full potential when teamed up with one of the most extraordinary horses of all time - Boomerang.

A bay gelding standing 168cms, Boomerang was bred by James Murphy from Nine Mile House in Tipperary out of the part-Irish Draught mare, The Girl from the Brown Mountain, by the thoroughbred stallion Battleburn.  Born in 1966, the horse was sent to Iris Kellett's yard in County Kildare to be broken for hunting and show jumping and it was here that Macken first met up with him.  Boomerang competed as a four year old at the RDS Spring Show in 1970 before being sold to Ted and Liz Edgar in England.  He was sold on again to Paul Schockemohle in Germany so once more crossed Macken's path as the young man from Granard in County Longford had gone to work with the Schockemohle brothers Paul and Alwin in the Spring of 1975 and, as fate would have it, Paul offered Eddie the ride on Boomerang "for the time being, until you get something better..."

None Better
There was no better however as the partnership was about to prove. Between 1975 and 1979 they blazed an incredible trail, winning or finishing second in a record-breaking 32 major Grand Prix and Derby events across Europe and America.  Macken topped the World Rankings for three successive years between 1976 and 1978 amassing colossal prize-money and in 1977 a wealthy patron, Dr Schnapka, gifted the horse to the man whose glorious career lifted Irish spirits like never before.

There were of course a few disappointments.  In 1978 Macken competed at the World Championships in Aachen, hoping to go one better than four years earlier when, riding Pele, he had finished second behind Germany's Hartwig Steenken and Simona in a two-way tie-breaker.  Through to the final four in Aachen, he picked up a quarter of a time fault with Johan Heins' Pandur and it cost him dearly as he had to settle for silver yet again.  Olympic glory evaded him due to a ban on professional riders that was strictly applied by the Irish Federation of the time and in 1979 there was further frustration when a late line-call by the water judge saw him drop from first to fourth place.  However he had already taken European silver two years before riding Kerrygold and in 1979 Boomerang's ability to leave all the fences intact helped Ireland to team bronze behind Great Britain and Germany.  Macken's team-mates on that occasion included three army men - Captain Con Power on Rockbarton, Captain Gerry Mullins on Ballinderry and Captain John Roche - now the FEI's Jumping Director - riding Maigh Cuillin.

The Tail End
The tail end of the stunning partnership was just as impressive as the early years.  As 1979 was drawing to a close Macken and Boomerang won the du Maurier Classic in Spruce Meadows, Calgary and followed that with their fourth victory in the Horse of the Year Grand Prix at Wembley.  At the Dublin Indoor International in November they scored a double of early wins before lining up third in the Grand Prix and then concluded with fourth place in the Grand Prix at Olympia in December.  This would be one of their last outings together because, early in the following year, Boomerang retired having broken his pedal bone.  Three years later he was euthanised and laid to rest at Rafeehan Stud in County Meath, his grave marked by four evergreen trees.

Boomerang was also a Derby specialist, taking the title at Hamburg in 1976 and at Hickstead four years in a row between 1976 and 1979.  During that same period Macken and his brilliant horse also secured a hat-trick of Dublin nations' cup victories and the home crowd loved every minute of it.

It will be no surprise then, that when Eddie Macken rides into the hallowed RDS main arena once again this week there will be a deafening roar of approval from his Irish fans.  And if, as is most likely, he is chosen to compete in the seventh leg of the 2008 Samsung Super League with FEI series on Friday you may well be able to hear the roar halfway around the globe....

By Louise Parkes