27/09/09 IN A spectacular finish, an Irish-bred horse today (Sunday) took the Silver Medal at the FEI World Breeding Championships for Young Horses at Lanaken, Belgium.
Working his way up through a massive startlist of 242 horse-and-rider combinations, Army Equitation School rider Capt. David O'Brien made it through to today's Six year-Old World Final with the Minister for Defence's bay gelding 'Drumiller Lough' and came home just over two seconds behind the Gold Medal winner, Germany's Christian Ahlmann and 'Charles 56', in a 15-horse jump-off.
Comdt. John Ledingham, Irish Chef d'Equipe at Lanaken, said this afternoon: "I believe 'Drumiller Lough' is one of the nicest horses to come out of Ireland, and is certainly now a live contender to represent the country in show jumping at the 2012 London Olympics. The combination gave a fantastic Silver Medal winning performance today, at a Six Year-Old world championships that had over 240 starters. It is an amazing achievement."