Coyle and fit-again Farrel fire on the double

Consistent O’Connor tops Leading Rider standings in Rome on another great week for the Irish

Daniel Coyle was in glowing form in Langley over the past few days, and while being in the winner’s enclosure twice in 48 hours will put a smile on anyone’s face, doing so with Farrel, whose career trajectory is close to an all-time high after being at one point threatened by injury, was worth its weight in gold.

The duo scored on the double at four-star level, helping Coyle to the Leading Rider award at the show, while Michael Duffy prevailed in three-star company and Peter Moloney won a two-star Grand Prix.

Meanwhile, Cian O’Connor may not have bagged the lion’s share of the prize money in any class at the prestigious five-star show in Rome but after going agonisingly close in the Rolex Grand Prix today (Sunday) at the Piazza di Siena, the Olympic medallist departed the Italian capital with the Leading Rider award following a hugely consistent week that concluded with three top-flight podium finishes to his name.

Coyle had piloted Farrel to victory at Thunderbird for the first time six years ago and the duo have enjoyed many good days at the Canadian venue in the interim. Now 15, and after winning a five-star and two four-star classes already this year, Farrel looked as good as ever as he and his Derry-born Olympian rider somehow bettered the 59.61 second time set by Kara Chad (CAN) and Corinna Z to land the 1.45m speed class.

When they stopped the clock after leaving every obstacle in place around the Fort Grand Prix Arena, the time read 59.45 and while a home rider was beaten, a long-time favourite of the knowledgeable show jumping public at Thunderbird was feted.

Coyle’s fellow Ulsterman, Conor Swail guided Theo 160 to fourth of the thirty participants, and also came in eighth on the legendary Count Me in.

“He’s been a great horse,” said an appreciative Coyle. “I’ve been riding him since he was seven years old. He was very successful here at this venue when he was nine years old. He won the World Cup here and jumped the Nations Cup here very successfully for Ireland.

“He had an injury that put him out of the sport and it didn’t look like he was coming back. He had four years out, which was crazy, and we didn’t really believe he would come back. Ariel (Grange) had found somebody who could do a surgery to make him better, just so he could have a better life as a retired horse.

“The vet was there one day and she said, ‘I think you should try again.’ If there’s one thing about this little horse it’s that he loves doing what he does. Otherwise he wouldn’t do it. He’s smaller than any other horse out there, but he doesn’t believe that.

“He’s one of my top horses again right now. I’ve probably won more classes this year on him than any other horse. I need him if I want to try to stay at the top. He wasn’t there for a long time but I’m really reaping the benefits of having him back.”

It was the same again for the world No 14 and the Grange-owned superstar in Friday’s Grand Prix Qualifier. Coyle was also involved in the jump-off with Incredible but the Ardmore athlete was feeling low after the most minor of rubs brought four faults with them.

Having Farrel to come was a second chance no one else could call upon however, and in dramatic fashion, the penultimate combination in the tie-breaker got the balance of risk and accuracy right to go clear in 34.96 and wrench the victory from the grasp of Chad once more, this time riding Igor GPH.

“I was a little bit unlucky and disappointed with Incredible,” Coyle admitted. “He actually was faster in the jump-off, but I knew I had Farrel later in the class, so I could concentrate a bit more on having a more correct round.

“With Farrel, generally speaking, if you ride it correctly, he’s going to jump it correctly. And he really loves the grass here, so I knew I had a good chance. If I could just do everything right it would all pay off.

“I think the first line everybody was doing the same strides. The second line, there was a risk to be taken there, whether it was eight or nine, but on Farrel I thought he can be handy enough that I didn’t need to do anything crazy. But then, at the end of the course, I thought, ‘Maybe I’m not quick enough,’ so after the vertical at number 11, I did seven strides around the corner. I, for sure, was the only person to do it and was a bit of a risk, and it paid off. I’m pretty sure that’s where I won my class.”

Swail went close to supplementing the Irish success at Thunderbird, but had victory in the 1.55m Grand Prix snatched from his grasp right at the death by Britain’s Charlie Jones and Capitale 6.

The Down athlete and Theo 160 were one of six combinations in the jump-off and they jumped clear in 38.95 to take the lead. They still held that position when Jones guided Capitale 6 into the arena as the penultimate pairing but in the end, they were convincing winners, taking almost 2.4 seconds off the target set by Swail to secure the honours.

The Darragh Cross man secured a bronze medal in the four-star 1.45m winning round class 24 hours earlier with the evergreen Count Me In registering a double clear to slot in behind Emmeline Adamick (USA) with Andy’sboy Bretoniere and Nicole Walker (CAN) and Atout Des Trambles.

Meanwhile, O’Connor left Rome in very high spirits, and while going so close to joining the pantheon of Irish legends to have won the Rolex Grand Prix at the illustrious five-star show, left with a very considerable consolation of earning the Leading Rider gong after a number of excellent results illustrating the depth of talent available to the Karlswood Stables supremo.

The format of the event meant that a dozen combinations made it through to the jump-off. Clearly, the nine with clear rounds going into it had an advantage. They included O’Connor, with Karlswood Partners’ Iron Man, and his young Irish compatriot, Seamus Hughes Kennedy on ESI Rocky (ISH), owned by his mother Clare and bred in his own native Kilkenny by his mother’s cousins at Ennisnag Stud.

O’Connor bagged €100,000 for registering a brilliant jump-off time of 35.76 but that was narrowly short of the 35.65 posted by Yuri Mansur (BRA) with Miss Blue-Saint Blue Farm, and so a sixth Irish triumph in this class was denied.

“He’s very special,” O’Connor (pictured on the podium above) enthused. “He has a huge canter and a huge heart but he’s quite sensitive about everything. I started to ride him last September and it took me a while to get used to him. We probably didn’t click straight away. Even at the start of this year in Florida we had some rounds where we didn’t quite know each other so I dropped him right back down to small classes, like 1.30m, and I built him back up. And the last six Grand Prix classes he’s jumped in a row he’s been double clear.

“He hasn’t much experience against the lock and he’s such an expressive jumper, he’s not maybe as quick as some of the others because he takes his time at his fences but that’s something we’re working on. Maybe we’ll catch (Yuri) in Aachen!”

Hughes Kennedy and Rocky flourished in the heightened atmosphere, securing €50,000 for fourth and one of the best results of his nascent career – hence the celebratory mood in the picture below!

O’Connor had registered two other podium finishes earlier in the week, with another Brazilian, Stephan de Freitas Barcha proving the major stumbling block.

The world No 10 took third in Saturday’s 1.55m class on Fermoy. There were 16 pairs in the tie-breaker, out of the 66 that started off. Barcha and Chevaux Hex Lup Imperio Epigcio posted a blemish-free round in 34.66 at the second time of asking, while O’Connor and his steed gave it a good go to secure the bronze in 36.93.

The Meath-based Kildare native began the week at Piazza di Siena on Wednesday with a runner-up finish in the 1.45m two-phase class on another of his promising roster, Kaspar R. They navigated the speed element in 24.76 but once again, it was Barcha and Chevaux Hex that stood in their way, recording a clear in 24.39 to bag the first of his two five-star successes at the show.

Hughes Kennedy and Dure de Semily earned fifth-place prize money.

Duffy has been recording a very good series of performances in recent times and he took the spoils in a three-star 1.45m speed competition at Peelbergen on RMF Clinton Son on Friday.

Rushy Marsh Farm’s 13-year-old stallion was impeccable in conjunction with his Galway rider and their clear round in 58.03 was more than enough to get the job done, well clear of runner-up Lara Tryba (FRA) with Flash de Talma,.

Tryba took the lead when 11^th of 73 into the ring, stopping the clock on 59.63, but that mark lasted mere moments, as Duffy was next into the arena and set a time that nobody got close to, with the rest of combinations unable even to break 60 seconds, ensuring a day to remember for the Turloughmore athlete.

There was an Irish 1-2 at two-star level in Wellington, England, where Waterford’s Peter Moloney and Nielson saw off the challenge of Tipperary pilot, Shane Breen on Bp Arctic Blue.

BREEDING

ESI ROCKY (ISH) – 2015 gelding by Stakkato Gold (HANN) out of Clonaslea (BWP) by For Pleasure (HANN). Breeder: Ennisnag Stud, Co Kilkenny. Owner: Clare Hughes. Rider: Seamus Hughes Kennedy.