COYLE GIVES IRELAND THIRD VICTORY AT HICKSTEAD DERBY MEETING

TWENTY year-old Daniel Coyle gave Ireland its third outright victory of the weekend at the Derby Meeting at Hickstead in England today (Saturday) with a win in the afternoon’s big jump-off class aboard John D. Carr’s chestnut stallion Zuidam.

Derry-born Coyle had a second in hand over British challenger Jay Halim and the bay gelding Goodman for Fun II when the clock stopped, but Halim also had another Irish rider on his heels – Cork’s Billy Twomey, who claimed third place on Katrina Moore’s stallion Royale Du Rouet.

Galway’s Michael Duffy made up an Irish trio in the top ten with an eighth place on Shawna Carbin’s Torino.

Eighteen year-old Duffy and Torino were also the winners of Thursday’s 1m45 speed competition at Hickstead, while on the same day 22 year-old Irish rider Richard Howley won Hickstead’s opening competition, the Derby Qualifier, on HK Horses’ Belinka Vh Overlede Goed, with Tipperary’s Shane Breen in second on Wembley Farms Inc’s gelding Calido Boy.

The famous Hickstead Derby competition takes place on Sunday afternoon.

At the four-star show at Spruce Meadows in Canada meanwhile, Irish riders featured in last night’s two big classes. Darragh Kenny and Postage Stamp Farm’s gelding Prof de la Roque were runners-up in the 1m50 Duncan Ross Cup to the USA’s Richard Spooner and the Dutch-bred Uraguay, while in the earlier 1m45 class Richie Moloney and Equinimity LLC’s Freestyle de Muze had two time faults in the jump-off to finish in third behind Canadian winner Eric Lamaze with Fine Lady 5.

The same class saw Shane Sweetnam and Spy Coast Farm’s stallion Cyklon claim fifth place, while Darragh Kenny and Oakland Ventures’s gelding Picolo took sixth.

Daniel Coyle, Hickstead winner