There were significant victories in show jumping and eventing on Sunday for two of Ireland's leading riders, Daniel Coyle and Padraig McCarthy.
Derry native Coyle secured his starting place in next month's Longines FEI jumping world cup final in Las Vegas when winning the last leg of the North American eastern sub-league at the Live Oak international show in Ocala, Florida on Farrel.
The sole Irish rider to qualify for the jump-off of the 1.60m jump-off competition, Coyle set the fastest of five double clears when home in 37.05 with Ariel Grange’s 10-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding. Riding Dicas (37.37), the USA’s Margie Engle finished second, just ahead of her compatriot Adrienne Sternlicht on Cristalline (37.96).
At the three-star show on Saturday, Co Wexford's Bertram Allen partnered Onyx Consulting's Gun Powder (45.41) into second place in the 1.50m jump-off class won by Germany's Andre Thieme on Cellisto (45.29).
Also in Florida, but at the Palm Beach Equestrian Centre in Wellington, Co Clare’s David Blake finished best of the Irish when fifth in Saturday’s five-star 1.60m Grand Prix where the first prize of $132,330 went to Israel’s Ashlee Bond on Donatello 141. With one time penalty in the first round, Blake failed to get through to the jump-off with Pine Hollow Farm’s Keoki.
There were two wins on Sunday for Irish riders competing at three-star level in Vejer de la Frontera in south-west Spain.
First up, Co Down’s Dermott Lennon landed the 1.45m Big Tour speed class on MJM (IOM) Holdings’ Irish Sport Horse mare MJM Pursuit, an 11-year-old by Aldato, with Co Carlow’s Jason Foley claiming the 1.45 Medium Tour Grand Prix on Ger O’Neill’s eight-year-old Belgian Warmblood mare, Madorada DW. In the afternoon’s featured 1.50m Grand Prix, Mayo’s Alex Duffy partnered Niall Talbot and Nicola Fitzgibbon’s 10-year-old ISH gelding FTS Killossery Konfusion (39.44) into second place behind France’s Aurelien Leroy riding Vendome d’Ick (38.53).
Co Clare’s Eoin McMahon recorded one of the biggest victories of his career when winning Sunday’s 1.55m Volkswagen Grand Prix at Braunschweig in Germany. Riding the Madeleine Winter-Schulze-owned Chacon 2 (40.64), McMahon came out on top after a 13-horse jump-off to take the winner’s prize of a new car valued at over €43,000. He finished almost three seconds clear of German runner-up, Tim Rieskamp-Goedeking on Querido (43.51).
On the national show jumping circuit, Kilkenny’s Susan Fitzpatrick recorded back-to-back wins in the TRM/Show Jumpers Club spring tour when landing Sunday’s leg of the series at the Portmore Equestrian Centre near Craigavon on her own German-bred gelding, Keatingstown Skorphults Joker.
Meanwhile, Grangemockler native Padraig McCarthy, who won team and individual silver on Mr Chunky at the 2018 World Equestrian Games in North Carolina, achieved Olympic qualification on Leonidas II when winning the CCI4*-L class at Barroca d'Alva in Portugal.
McCarthy, who is based in Devon, completed the three phases on a penalty score of 39.1 with Diane Brunsden and Peter Cattell’s 16-year-old Holsteiner gelding which was previously the mount of the now retired New Zealand great, Mark Todd.
Japan’s Kenki Sato finished second with the 10-year-old Irish Sport Horse mare Shanaclough Contadora (40.8) while Co Kildare-based Cathal Daniels placed third on the previous weekend’s three-star winner, OLS King Aragon (49.2).
Daniels led after dressage (29.2) with Michelle Nelson and Kieran Connors’s home-bred ISH gelding and, fastest across the country for the addition of just four time penalties on Saturday, had increased his advantage over his rivals. Unfortunately, he picked up 16 show jumping penalties on Sunday to slip down the leaderboard.
In the CCI4*-S, Daniels finished fourth on his own and Sarah Hughes’s 10-year-old ISH gelding Shannondale Percy (37.8) as Japan’s Toshiyuki Tanaka took the honours with Talma d’Allou (33.4). Cork-based Michael Ryan partnered Carol and Tom Henry’s nine-year-old ISH gelding TR Kaygraff(30.7) into second place in the CCI2*-L won by France’s Aurelie Vinnac on Gibo von Sebitz (30.6).
