EQUESTRIAN: Britain's Pippa Funnell moved a step closer to clinching the Rolex Grand Slam when scooping her second consecutive Mitsubishi Motors trophy with Supreme Rock at Badminton yesterday, just seven days after scoring at Kentucky with Primmore's Pride, reports Grania Willis.
In the tightest of finishes the showjumping clock came close to denying her, the double European champion had .4 of a second to spare over Finland's world bronze medallist Piia Pantsu.
Funnell has now completed two legs of the Grand Slam and, if she can continue in winning mode at Burghley in September, she will be banking the $250,000 cheque from Rolex.
But the 34-year-old Sussex rider has other big fish to fry two weeks later when she heads for Punchestown to defend the European crown she has won at the last two championships.
Having won at Burghley in 1999 and Pau two years later, Funnell became the first rider to win back-to-back titles with the same horse. Now she is aiming for a unique hat-trick with the great Irish export Supreme Rock.
Irish breeding was once again to the fore, not just in the winner, but in the bloodlines of seven of the top 12 at Badminton, including third placed Over To You with Jeanette Brakewell. Also part of that circle was Joe Savage's Step Together gelding Don't Step Back, which Patricia Donegan steered to a superb cross-country clear on Saturday.
With just a single rail off in yesterday's show jumping, the Co Cork pair notched up a superb 10th place on their Badminton debut and must have rubberstamped their selection for the Europeans at Punchestown.
Fellow Irishman Edmond Gibney, also making his first appearance at the British fixture, was equally impressive on board Grainne Ward's Kings Highway, ending up 19th and claiming the Glentrool trophy for the rider showing the best improvement on their dressage placing.
MOTOR SPORT: Eugene Donnelly scored a well deserved victory in the two-day Rally of the Lakes in a controlled drive over the challenging stages of the South-West, reports Brian Foley.
After Saturday's stages Donnelly held a 20 seconds lead over Austin McHale, but he was not confident about the second day as his Subaru Impreza WRC had a suspected cylinder head gasket leak which called for constant topping up of the cooling system.
McHale was caught out on the yesterday's penultimate test, sliding off the Caragh Lake stage and putting his Subaru Impreza WRC into a bog. He had only taken a 2.5 second lead over Donnelly two stages previously. Donnelly thus claimed his second major tarmac rally victory.
SQUASH: The Irish men's and women's squash teams both finished sixth at the European Team Championships in Nottingham yesterday, reports Mary Hannigan.
Both teams were seeded ninth for the tournament but secured places in the top eight for the first time in a decade.
The men had a tight victory over fifth seeds Scotland in the fifth-12th place play-offs, winning 75-74 on points countback after finishing 2-2. They then beat Spain in the fifth -eighth play-offs before losing to Sweden yesterday to finish sixth.
The women's team whitewashed Wales in the fifth-12th place play-offs before clinching a superb 2-1 victory over third seeds Germany, before losing their final match 2-1 to France yesterday.
