HARRY Marshall gave both himself and the Irish a dream start to Horse Show week. He claimed the winner's purse in the Kerrygold Welcome Stakes with Velvisto, and slotted into the line up in both speed classes.
Marshall, who was not selected for the Irish team and is competing as an individual at the RDS, was drawn last to go in the 14 horse jump off and had Elmar Gundel's 38.39 seconds to beat.
The Co Antrim jockey was in winning mode from the outset and, putting Velvisto into overdrive, galloped home through the finish with 1.75 seconds to spare, relegating the German to second place.
The victory had a £1,300 reward attached, which will be welcomed by the mare's owner, Joanne Sloan. She passed the 11 year old on to Marshall at the beginning of June after buying her from British rider Graham Fletcher.
The new partnership cemented rapidly, winning at their first show in Stepaside over the June Bank Holiday weekend. They also scored on the opening night of the national championships in Salthill and at Ballivor, before winning the Celbridge Grand Prix last Sunday and finishing third in Dun Laoghaire 24 hours later in the build up to Dublin.
Marshall seemed to have the following speed class all sewn up, too, when shaving a quarter of a second off the time set by the early leader, Britain's John's Whitaker and the stallion Randi.
But Marshall was instantly deposed by Comdt Gerry Mullins and Killone Abbey. Then Francis Connors snatched the lead after a brilliant round from the mare Diamond Explosion.
Paul Darragh, winner of the Dun Laoghaire Grand Prix the day before, moved smoothly into second place with Flaminka to put the Irish into the top four places. But they were not destined to maintain that dominance and were swiftly disabused of any such idea when Frenchman Michel Robert sliced off more than 1 1/4 seconds after a deceptively fast round from Alligator Fontaine.
Robert held on to his lead, but the Irish quartet was pushed down one more place by Britain's Nick Skelton. Riding the aptly named Quick Star, Skelton squeezed in between the French rider and Francis Connors after a speedy tour of the 12 fence track, which was designed by visiting Venezuelan Lepoldo Palacios.
Connors had earlier forsaken his chance of taking home some of the Welcome Stakes prize fund, withdrawing the stallion Spring Elegance from the jump off to save his firepower in the hope of being selected for Ireland's defence of the Aga Khan cup tomorrow.
Irish chef d'equipe Col Ned Campion has a tough task ahead of him in deciding which of the six to leave off the team.
Peter Charles, back with his European championship winner La Ina after riding Benetton in Atlanta, must be considered a definite starter, as must Capt John Ledingham, who was robbed of his Olympic debut when Kilbaha was stricken with travel sickness.
Providing Cruising performs well in this afternoon's Kerrygold Classic, he should be guaranteed a place on the Irish team. But Col Campion then has to select his fourth rider from amongst Eddie Macken, Paul Darragh and Francis Connors, all of whom have strong claims.