Austin O’Connor leads the Irish charge at Tattersalls International Horse Trials

IRELAND’s Austin O’Connor holds the lead heading into Sunday’s final Cross Country phase of the George Mernagh Memorial three-star competition at Tattersalls Horse Trial in association with Horse Sport Ireland in Co Meath.

Saturday’s Show Jumping phase saw most of the top contenders jump clear to remain on their Dressage scores. O’Connor (pictured above) and The Irish Sport Horse Kilpatrick Knight,  remained on their score of 42.30 penalties when they crept inside the time allowed by just one hundredth of second.

New Zealander Tim Price is the biggest threat to an Irish win at Tattersalls, he lurks in second place with Ringwood Sky Boy (ISH), 2.6 penalties behind O’Connor.

Incredibly the next 10 places on the leaderboard are all filled by Irish riders, including many of the contenders for the team Eventing places at the Rio Olympic Games.

Horse Sport Ireland Eventing team manager Nick Turner will select his four Rio-bound athletes this Tuesday, with a host of Irish combinations hoping to impress when Tattersalls comes to a conclusion with the exciting Cross Country contest on Sunday.