Shane Breen chats to Victoria Goff about finally winning the Al Shira'aa Derby, after nearly 20 years of trying
There was a particular moment that made Shane Breen decide showjumping was the sport for him. He was around eight years old, sitting in the stands at the Royal Dublin Show, witnessing his hero Eddie Macken clinch the Aga Khan Trophy for Ireland.
“Eddie and Boomerang jumped a clear round, and the sheer roar of the crowd afterwards made me think, I have to do this,” he says.
It was the era of Macken’s Hickstead heyday when he and his famous ride claimed the Derby four times in a row from 1976 to 1979. As if that wasn’t enough, in 1978 Eddie finished first and second with Boomerang and Pele – an achievement that no one had done before or since… Until 2022, that is, when Shane Breen emulated his hero with a thrilling one-two finish in what was the 60th running of the Al Shira’aa Derby.
Shane had waited some time to lift the Boomerang Trophy, a bronze commissioned to immortalise the great Derby legends. Breen’s first attempt had been some 17 years earlier, when he immediately impressed with a superb round on Iman d'Occagnes to finish equal third, behind Ben Maher and Tim Stockdale. Standing alongside him in the prizegiving was Chloe Bunn, also third equal on the 2004 winner Buddy Bunn. Within a few years the pair were married, with Shane moving from his native Co Tipperary to be based at Hickstead Place, the house and stables from which Chloe’s father Douglas Bunn had set up the All England Jumping Course.
It must be a source of enormous inspiration and frustration to be based at Hickstead and not to have won its most famous class, to ride past the iconic arena and the Derby Bank and have an almost daily reminder of an achievement left to be ticked off the list. Year after year Shane came tantalisingly close to winning, often placing in the top 10, and finishing as one of the runners-up in 2011. His younger brother Trevor became a Derby champion in 2014 with Adventure De Kannan and repeated his win the following year with Loughnatousa WB. “I was delighted for him, and for all the horses’ connections,” says Shane. “I remember congratulating Trevor after his win and him saying, ‘it will be your day soon’, and I just thought – I don’t know if it will. But I kept on trying.”
At the 2018 Al Shira’aa Hickstead Derby Meeting, Shane marked himself as the one to watch with a superb Derby Trial victory with Can Ya Makan, with the pair going on to finish third in the Derby itself. The following year, it was the chestnut stallion Golden Hawk who took victory in the Trial, meaning Shane had two real shots of finally winning the Derby. Golden Hawk duly produced a stunning clear round in Sunday’s showcase, going into a jump-off against Harriet Biddick on the hugely experienced A Touch Imperious, as well as Derby debutant Mikey Pender on Hearton Du Bois Halleux.
A month earlier Shane had missed out on the Hamburg Derby after being beaten in a jump-off, and he wasn’t going to let it happen again. Knowing he was on the fastest horse of the three at Hickstead, he set off at a fearsome pace in order to put pressure on his rivals. But when the Derby Rails and one of the white gates fell, it relegated him to third place, with Mikey taking the win. “That was the one I really threw away,” says Shane, ruefully.
The Hickstead Derby had never been cancelled since it was first held in 1961, until the Coronavirus pandemic meant it didn’t run in 2020 and 2021. When the class did return last June, it had been three calendar years since any horse had had the chance to jump round the track. Both Golden Hawk and Can Ya Makan were by now in their mid-teens, and the question was – would they still be as formidable in the Derby?
But it soon became apparent they were in superb form, with both just tipping a fence apiece in the Derby Trial to set them up for the Sunday. It must have been a reassuring feeling for Shane to ride into the International Arena knowing he had two very strong chances of jumping clear. Drawn fifth to go on Can Ya Makan, Shane produced the sort of effortless display of horsemanship that many can only dream of, securing that coveted clear much to the delight of the crowd. But he couldn’t begin to celebrate, knowing that many leading contenders were to follow, as well as his second ride Golden Hawk. He was even busy planning his strategy for the jump-off, were he to end up jumping-off against himself.
In the end he didn’t need to – no one else jumped clear, with four horses having a fence down apiece to share second prize, including Golden Hawk. "If you’d asked me in the morning which horse would have gone better, I couldn’t have told you," he said. "Golden Hawk has been an amazing horse for me, and I’d have loved for either of them to have won. But it was Can Ya Makan’s day.”
Shane’s round was a textbook example of how to ride the Derby course, and he couldn’t have had a more appealing partner than Team Z7’s Can Ya Makan. A striking bay with the kindest of eyes, a floating movement and a picture-perfect jumping technique, he is a photographer’s dream. He is a gentleman to handle or ride at home, but there is a certain competitive rivalry between him and Golden Hawk, with the two stallions stabled next to each other and both keen to assert themselves as the alpha male of Hickstead Place.
The pair are also among the line-up of top stallions standing at Pook Bourne Stud, the satellite yard that Chloe and Shane built just minutes from Hickstead in 2021 to accommodate a rapidly expanding breeding programme. Breen Equestrian produces about 30 foals a year, with some mares based at Pook Bourne, some in Ireland with Shane’s cousin John Griffin, and the others with long-term friend and owner Konstantin Pysarenko in the Ukraine.
Not content with producing future showjumping star horses, Shane is also renowned for developing the careers of talented young riders too. Notable alumni include David Simpson, who came for three months’ training and ended up staying for seven years; Michael Duffy, who is now based nearby and who is on the same Global Champions League team as his former mentor; as well as young talents Jack Ryan and Georgia Tame. Joining the Breen Equestrian team is a massive boost for any young rider, and Shane is always on the lookout for young talent, with about half of his stable riders approaching him and the other half being ‘head hunted’ for a job. “Things have really changed and as the value of horses has soared, so has the level of professionalism in the sport, so the talented ones are offered a lot more to attract them these days,” he explains.
It would not be a surprise to see at least a few of his own children follow in Shane’s footsteps either. Lorna, 16, is a talented rider but is currently focusing on her GCSEs. Douggie and Wolfie (10 and 8) are both keen riders, while 13-year-old Darcy has recently enjoyed her first international win in Children on Horses. “Darcy is excellent at spotting a stride – just like her mother,” Shane says with a smile.
His own childhood was immersed in equestrianism – the Breens were a well-known hunting family, with the Scarteen’s banks and ditches proving to be an excellent education for a future Derby winner. Shane’s father John and his uncle James were both keen on showjumping, and Shane went on to have plenty of success on ponies including a European individual silver medal, finishing behind Malin Baryard-Johnsson. He represented Ireland at Junior and Young Rider level before making his senior Nations Cup debut aged 19 – somewhat aptly, at Hickstead.
He had briefly considered a career in racing – until Irish chef d’equipe Tommy Wade, another Hickstead Derby winner, convinced him to stick to showjumping. “Tommy was training racehorses at the time, and I was riding out for him. He said to me, if you go racing, it's a tough world, you'll have a lot of falls, a lot of breaks. If you go showjumping, you can still be jumping when you're 60, if you’re mad enough.”
It was a decision that paid off. Like Eddie Macken, who once inspired him with a thrilling Aga Khan victory, Shane has been on the Nations Cup team on home turf in Ireland, jumping double clear in 2006 with World Cruise. He counts his 2019 Dublin Grand Prix win as one of the proudest moments of his career, while one of his most lucrative wins came in 2018 at the Monaco leg of the Global Champions Tour. He’s represented Ireland at two World Equestrian Games, and one European Championship. Last year was particularly unforgettable, with a third Queen Elizabeth II Cup at Hickstead and the Leading Showjumper of the Year title at HOYS to add to his Derby success.
At 49, Shane’s passion for the sport is as strong as ever, and with a whole host of talented horses coming up through the ranks, it would be no surprise to see him still at the top of his game for many years to come. But now he has finally ticked the Derby off his to-do list, could he be on track to join those showjumping greats with two, three or even four Derby wins to their name? One thing is for sure – few horsemen could deserve it more.
This article first appeared in June 2023
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