12/10/08 MAYO'S Cameron Hanley finally struck gold at the World Cup show in Oslo Norway today (Sunday) when he claimed his first win of the weekend with victory in the 1m45 Jump Off Final. The Claremorris-born rider was one of 20 competitors at the four-star event to qualify for today's Final, through successful placings in previous classes, and today rode Sevil Sabanci's ten year-old Quick Star stallion 'SIEC Royal Star' into first place. Hanley was one of just eight riders through to the jump-off, and the fastest of five double clear rounds, shading Egyptian runner-up Abdel Said by a fifth of a second. Thirty-five year-old Hanley had a jump-off fourth place at Oslo yesterday with VDL Stud's 'Southwind VDL'.

12/10/08 THE IRISH Eventing team jumped a further two places after the show jumping phase today (Sunday) to finish in fourth overall at the three-star event in Boekelo, the Netherlands. Lying in eighth after dressage on Friday night, the team advanced to sixth following the cross-country phase on Saturday, and this afternoon a successful show jumping test levered them into fourth at the final bell, the biggest improvement of the nine nations competing. Best of the Irish was Olympic rider Capt. Geoff Curran on the Minister for Defence and Maurice Cassidy's Irish-bred gelding 'The Jump Jet', with a single fence down giving him a 19th spot in the individual tally. Sacha Pemble and 'Hyanie d'Aubrie' finished in 32nd place after collecting four faults in show jumping, while George Russell and the 14 year-old Irish-bred bay gelding 'Young Man' registered 12 faults and ended in 57th. The Irish effort was completed by Austin O'Connor and 'Lily of the West', who did not improve on a shaky start and took a discard 76th place after 13 show jumping penalties.

12/10/08 IRISH riders Cian O'Connor and Billy Twomey were early leaders in the Speed Horse of the Year competition at the Horse of the Year Show in Birmingham, England today (Sunday) but finally had to settle for third and sixth place, respectively, with Britain's Ellen Whitaker putting in a dazzling performance on 'Kanselier' to take the winner's laurels. The Stg £13,500 class saw 28 year-old Meath-based O'Connor place Dermot O'Rourke's eight year-old mare 'Baloufina' at the top of the leaderboard, and he proved unassailable until Whitaker shaved an impressive 3.8 seconds off his time to take the pole position. She was eventually followed by fellow British rider Laura Renwick, who took the runner-up spot. Cork-born Twomey, who has been in top form throughout the three-star weekend at Birmingham, finally settled for sixth place with Carron Nichol's chestnut mare 'Fantasia', a horse which gave the 31 year-old rider a win in Thursday's jump-off class, where O'Connor was also in the money with a third-placed 'Baloufina'.

12/10/08 A JUBILANT Billy Twomey set the seal on his successful weekend at the Horse Of The Year Show (HOYS) in Birmingham, England tonight (Sunday) with a spectacular win in the show's Grand Prix, which netted him 9,500 euro in prize money. After two wins earlier in the week at Birmingham, the 31 year-old Cork-born rider has been featuring in the top ten on three horses, one of which carried him to victory tonight - his own eight year-old stallion 'Je t'Aime Flamenco'. Twomey came back into form at Birmingham with his first major international wins since suffering injury in April of this year, but had to withstand serious pressure from the top British riders tonight, six of whom finished in the Grand Prix's top ten. Six combinations made it through to the jump-off, but only three double clear rounds were recorded, with Twomey breaking the beam just a fifth of a second faster than British challenger Michael Whitaker.

11/10/08 CO. ANTRIM'S Ben Crawford won the Gold Medal at the World University Championships in Algeria today (Saturday) in a jump off against a British rider. Crawford, a student of Queen's University in Belfast, was part of a three-strong Irish team that also included Susie Cave and Natalie Quinlivan, all riding borrowed horses. In the final jump-off for Gold and Silver medals with Britain's Rosalind Canter, the two contenders swapped horses after one round, but though Crawford went clear in both rounds, Canter dropped a pole first time out and had to settle for the runner-up position. Crawford said after his medal presentation: "I am absolutely delighted and I would like to thank everyone who supported us," while Chef d'Equipe Peter Fell added: "We're very proud of Ben and the rest of the team. Ben kept his composure on the borrowed horses, and produced two brilliant clears in the final." Ireland's team coach was Sue Shortt and 17 nations took part.

11/10/08 CIAN O'Connor claimed fourth place in this afternoon's (Saturday) big jump-off competition at the Horse of the Year Show (HOYS) in Birmingham, England, while fellow Irish rider Billy Twomey took sixth. Kildare-born O'Connor, one of eight to qualify for the final round, recorded a double clear with Stephen O'Connor's nine year-old bay stallion 'Markopoulo', while a slightly faster Billy Twomey paid the price with a single rail down to finish sixth on Sue Davies's dependable 17 year-old bay gelding 'Whinny Jackson'. The competition was won by the Netherlands' Jurgen Stenfert. O'Connor and Cheshire-based Twomey are joined at Birmingham by fellow Irish riders Dave Quigley and Ivan Dalton.

11/10/08 IRELAND'S Eventing team at Boekelo, the Netherlands, moved up two places after the cross-country phase today (Saturday) to lie in sixth overnight, with 153 penalty points against leader Germany's 113. Olympic rider Capt. Geoff Curran is best of the four-strong Irish squad, in 22nd place with the Minister for Defence's ten year-old gelding 'The Jump Jet', while former Olympic Reserve Sacha Pemble is currently in 35th on 'Hyanie d'Aubrie'. Irish-bred bay gelding "Young Man' ridden by George Russell holds 63rd place, while Austin O'Connor and 'Lily of the West' trail in 85th position. Of the Irish individuals at the three-star event, Steven Smith holds 45th on the Irish-bred mare 'Castlehill', with Ciaran Glynn one place behind on the ten year-old Cruising mare 'GFG Killossery Kruisita'. Ian Olding and 'Gran-Kiki' are in 61st after cross-country, while Clare McKenna and 'Mr. Smartie' lie in 65th. The show jumping phase completes the three-day event tomorrow (Sunday) at Boekelo.

10/10/08 CORK-born Billy Twomey continued his run of good form at the Horse Of The Year Show in Birmingham England today (Friday) with his second win in 24 hours. Twomey brought out Carron Nicol's eight year-old chestnut mare 'Fantasia' for today's 1m45 competition against the clock, and crossed the line a fifth of a second ahead of Britain's Ellen Whitaker and 'Kanselier'. The 31 year-old Irish rider, who has been based in England for some years, yesterday won the first jump-off class of the show with 'Fantasia', and late last night notched up a sixth place on his own bay stallion 'Je t'Aime Flamenco'. Twomey sustained an injury last April, and Birmingham has seen him record his first major international wins since his recovery. Meanwhile, three other Irish riders featured in the top ten yesterday, with Meath's Cian O'Connor slotting Dermot O'Rourke's eight year-old mare 'Baloufina' into third in the jump-off, and Kilkenny-born Ivan Dalton claiming a sixth place on yet another chestnut mare, Neil Jones's 'Corcovade'. Dave Quigley also had a fifth place in the two-phase class with 'Lucky de Blondel'

05/10/2008 IRELAND'S Paul O'Shea claimed victory in the two-phase competition at Moorsele, Belgium this morning (Sunday). Riding Paul Clarke and Michael Walsh's nine year-old 'Daydream St. Ghyvan Z', the 31 year-old Limerick-born rider went clear in both phases, and crossed the beam a comfortable two seconds ahead of Swedish challenger Alexander Zetterman in the final round. Yesterday (Saturday) O'Shea had a second place with the mare in the Winning Round competition at the three-star show. O'Shea is scheduled to ride 'Jor de l'Elnon' in this afternoon's Grand Prix at Moorsele.

04/10/2008 FOUR Irish riders appear in the world top 50 of the Rolex Jumping Rankings for the first time, according to statistics published by the FEI, the world governing body, yesterday (Friday). The Rolex world rankings, which reflect points gained throughout the year by almost 2,000 show jumping riders at Nations' Cups, Grands Prix and other major competitions, show that Antrim-born Jessica Kurten remained in her existing sixth place at the end of September, 2008, while Tipperary's Denis Lynch took 19th position. However, both German-based Cameron Hanley, who gained one place to reach 46th and Meath's Cian O'Connor, who jumped a remarkable 30 places to achieve 50th overall, helped set the new Irish record. Horse Sport Ireland Team Manager Robert Splaine said from Cork today: "This is a tremendous achievement, and I want to pay tribute not only to the riders but also to the investment by the owners and the sponsors, without whom it could not have been achieved." It also gives us tremendous encouragement for our participation in the Super League next year, and hopefully we will be invited back to Spruce Meadows in Canada in 2009, where two of our Top 50 riders picked up valuable Rolex points during the team's visit in September."