Captain Geoff Curran wins final leg of Horseware/TRM premier Grand Prix

The Horseware/TRM premier Grand Prix series concluded on Sunday at the Meadows Equestrian Centre in Lurgan where the eighth and final leg was won by Captain Geoff Curran riding the Minister for Defence's Shannondale Rahona.

Only three combinations managed to jump double clear, the Army Equitation School’s representative stopping the clock on 44.47 in the timed round with Shannondale Rahona, a 10-year-old brown mare by Shannondale Sarco St Ghyvan Z which was bred in Co Monaghan by Peter Rice. Next weekend, Curran is due to partner the Army’s Bishops Quarter at the international horse trials in Millstreet.

Second place at The Meadows went to Co Down’s Dermott Lennon riding Rebecca McGoldrick’s Horatio van Erpekom (46.44) with Matt Garrigan from north Co Dublin, a member of Ireland’s winning European young riders’ team, finishing third with his father Martin’s Contino 56 (48.24).

Although not placed on Sunday, Francis Connors was crowned national champion rider with his mount, Erne Ladygoldilocks, a nine-year-old Ard VDL Douglas mare, owned and bred by Cavan’s Hugh Fitzpatrick, taking the title of champion horse. This was a second national championship win for Connors, the Waterford rider being successful back in the early 1990s at Salthill with the stallion Spring Elegance.

The final leg of the 2016 Irish Sport Horse Studbook show jumping series also took place at The Meadows, with over €13,500 on offer from Horse Sport Ireland, including league and breeders’ prizes.

In the five-year-old final, 17 horses made it through to the jump-off which was won by Leitrim’s John Mulligan riding the Mohill Treble C gelding Mohill Spring which he also owns and bred. Finishing fifth secured the league for Shane Dalton riding Gabriel Slattery’s Castlelawn Captain Junior, a stallion by Captain Clover, which was by bred in Co Mayo by Elizabeth Gallagher out of the Diamond Lad mare Diroe.

Sixteen combinations got through to the jump-off in the six-year-old final where Dalton came out on top with Jackie Lee’s home-bred Kashino, a roan mare by Cassino out of Captain Pride (by Captain Clover). Here, league honours went to Killossery Kaiden, ridden by Co Kilkenny’s Ger O’Neill for KM Sport Horses. By Lux Z, the bay gelding was bred in north Co Dublin by Laura and Frank Glynn out of the Cruising mare Killossery Kruisette.

A dozen combinations contested the jump-off round of the seven-year-old final where the winners were Darragh Ryan and the Loughehoe Guy mare Glimmering. This chesnut was bred by her Co Kildare owner Noel Cawley out of the Cruising mare Cruise Leaf. Waterford rider Gemma Phelan won the league on the Luidam gelding Loughnavatta Indigo which his Co Tipperary owner Rory Costigan bred out of the VDL Arkansas mare Loughnavatta Sabrina.

Speaking about the Series final, Horse Sport Ireland’s Director of Breeding and Programmes, Alison Corbally, said; “It is wonderful to see so many of the horses that have been selected for the World Breeding Championships, in Lanaken, competing here today and putting in such strong performances. The standard of jumping in the finals has been very, very good, as you can see from so many combinations getting through to the jump-off despite having to face very strong tracks. The Series this year has been a great success and we have some very exciting young Irish Sport Horses on the circuit.”

Abroad, Kildare-born Niall Talbot, who is based in Switzerland, won Sunday's Grand Prix at Wiener-Neustadt in Austria with Jean-Claude Engisch's 15-year-old chestnut gelding Nicos de la Cense. The previous evening, Wexford's Bertram Allen landed the 1.45m jump-off class at Lier in Belgium with Ballywalter Farms' eight-year-old Cheese WZ.

Although the Irish teams competing at the Pony European championships in dressage, eventing and show jumping over the weekend finished out of the medals, there were some excellent individual performances.

The eventing team of Zara Nelson (Millridge Buachaill Bui) Hannah Adams (Mr Blueskies), Jim Tyrrell (Fiona's Fionn) and Sophie Foyle (Little Miss Fernhill) moved up from eighth after dressage to finish fourth, missing out on the bronze medal by less than eight penalties. Germany took the team gold ahead of Britain in second and France in third.

Nelson and Millridge Buachaill Bui, who won bronze in Malmo last year, were the stand-out Irish performers on the individual rankings, finishing less than four penalties off the bronze medal position this time around.

In the show jumping Championships, the quartet of Adam Carey (Stakkati), Abbie Sweetnam (Dynamite Spartacus), Harry Allen (Aughnashammer) and Jason Foley (More Clover) finished fifth of 11 teams in Friday’s team competition. The best performance in dressage came from Emily-Kate Robinson who, riding Crown Imagine, was 24th of 61 in the individual standings which were dominated by riders from Germany, Denmark and The Netherlands.

Elizabeth Power, who won the previous weekend’s national two-star eventing championships at Tattersalls on Mind Me, partnered her mother Mags’s home-bred ex-racehorse into third place in the CIC2* at Somerford Park in England. On Sunday, the Meath combination completed on 43.3 penalties behind Britain’s Oliver Townend who won (37.8) and placed second (38.6) on the Irish-bred pair of Note Worthy (a 12-year-old Limmerick gelding) and MHS King Joules (an 11-year-old gelding by Ghareeb).