IRISH-bred horses have produced some of the top results during the first two days of the British Open Show Jumping Championships at Birmingham, England, with two wins and three top ten places.

Tonight (Thursday) 36 year-old Mark Kyle took victory in the Indoor Cross Country competition with Tanya Kyle's grey gelding 'Drunken Disorderly', beating some of Britain's top eventing riders, such as Oliver Townend and Pippa Funnell.

Later, Tipperary-born Shane Breen kept up his by now traditional sparkling form at the annual Birmingham show with a sixth place in the second class of the British Open Show Jumping Championship on another Irish-bred grey gelding, Keith Prescott's 'Mullaghdrin Gold Rain'. The horse also gave Breen a sixth place in the opening Championship competition on Wednesday, a class won by the Irish-bred Cavalier gelding 'Casino', piloted by British rider Robert Whitaker.

Thirty-five year-old Breen, who is now English-based, took another sixth place in the Equiport Classic speed competition this afternoon on his own Irish-bred chestnut gelding 'Dorada'. Breen's performances during the first two days at Birmingham have placed him third in the British Open Show Jumping Championships rankings, which will be finalised in Saturday night's Grand Prix.