Jessica Burke, a 34-year-old former maths teacher from Galway, Ireland, is preparing to compete in her first World Cup Jumping Final in Fort Worth, Texas. Riding her only five-star horse, the 10-year-old gelding Good Star Du Bary, she enters the event after a strong indoor circuit season. Burke expressed optimism, saying, 'we’re going there with big hopes.'
Seven years ago, Burke left her job as a maths teacher to pursue professional showjumping. She has since represented Ireland in Nations Cups and claimed victory in the Queen Elizabeth II Cup at Hickstead. Her path to the World Cup Final accelerated with Good Star Du Bary, a small grey gelding known at home as Rocky, acquired from France through Irish rider Ivan Dalton as a six-year-old. Burke carefully developed the horse by Rock’N Roll Semilly, securing 14th place in the 2023 seven-year-old World Championship and competing in the Nations Cup at Kronenberg last summer. The pair used the Horse of the Year Show as a launchpad for a successful winter indoor season, highlighted by their first World Cup qualifier win in Bordeaux, France, in February. Now facing global elite with just one top-level mount, Burke views the Texas showdown as a 'pinch-me moment,' in an exclusive interview with Horse & Hound.
