Sugar Babe sweet for London Olympics

The Ballinlough-based breeders of a talented mare are keeping their fingers crossed in the hope that their horse can make it to the London Olympics later this year. Miriam and Jim Murphy are involved in a part-time basis in breeding horses and they're hoping that their mare - Sugar Brown Babe - gets the call up onto the Irish eventing team for the biggest sporting extravaganza in the world. Sugar Brown Babe has in recent years excelled in the three disciplines that make up eventing - dressage, cross-country and showjumping. According to Miram Murphy it's a sport that makes huge demands of stamina and concentration on both horse and rider and she compares it to "a triathlon for humans." Ridden for the last few years by Sarah Ennis from Batterstown the combination has made a considerable impact in eventing competitions. Ennis has well over 20 years experience in eventing and has competed in Ireland and abroad. For the past few years she has participated in the World Breeders' Championship for young horses in France. She has also competed in Holland and is planning to be involved in the Tattersalls international event. Last year the Sugar Brown Babe and Ennis combination won the Red Mills Super League. Sugar Brown Babe was named horse-of-the-year in the National Championships and was also nominated the 2011 the mare-of-the-year. Miriam Murphy says that a combination of factors ensures that Sugar Brown Babe and the quest for a place in the Olympic Games is an all-inclusive Royal County project. "This is very much a Meath thing. Sarah's based in Batterstown, the mare was bred here and the stallion (Porsche) is standing with Norman Allen in Ballinlough. Sarah has worked with Sugar Brown Babe since she was six and she's done a great job with her," she explained. "I bred Sugar Brown Babe to keep her on as a brood mare and decided with brood mares you need to get a few points on them so we just put her into work and she's going on so well we didn't actually get to breed yet." When not looking after her small stable of horses Miriam works as a carer in a residential centre for people with disabilities in Delvin while her husband Jim is a part-time farmer and mechanic. Their involvement in horses is purely as a hobby and the discovery of a talented mare has now meant they have a chance of making it to the biggest stage of all. The final decision on what horses and riders will be going to the Olympics as part of the Irish team will be finalised in the near future. "It depends on what horses Ginny Elliott, the manager of the Irish eventing team decides should go to the Olympics, but Sugar Brown Babe is in with a shout," added Murphy.