Grand Prix wins for Mikey Pender and Kevin Mealiff while Irish Endurance duo score international wins in Britain

Kildare Show Jumper Mikey Pender has claimed victory in the Bank Holiday Monday Mullingar International two-star Grand Prix following a massive 16 horse jump-off. Pender and The Irish Sport Horse HHS Burnchurch, who is owned by Miguel Bravo, had a winning margin of almost two and a half seconds to take the top prize of over €8,000. Second place went to Kilkenny’s Eddie Moloney with Andiamix Hero Z, while Kenneth Graham finished third with George (ISH).

The Mullingar Grand Prix was part of the Horse Sport Ireland Jumping Challenge, with the next round due to take place at Millstreet in August. The Horse Sport Ireland Eventing and Jumping Challenge is a €20,000 bonus incentive scheme (€10,000 for Eventing & €10,000 for Show Jumping), aimed at attracting more international riders and in turn increasing entries at International Eventing and Show Jumping venues in Ireland,

Offaly’s Kevin Mealiff filled two of the top four places in Sunday’s $50,000 Boehringer Ingelheim two-star Grand Prix at HITS Saugerties in New York, including victory with Viper Vrombautshoeve Z who is owned by BKS Horse Farms LLC. Mealiff also finished fourth with Ever D’Hoogpoort while Limerick’s Paul O’Shea finished sixth with Skara Glens 7 Pillars.

Martin Mc Namara (left and  Tom Mac Guinness (right) celebrate victory at Kings Forest in Britain

Meanwhile in Endurance riding, it has been a memorable weekend for Irish riders at Kings Forest in Britain. Tom MacGuinness and Horseware Sasha D’Aillais took victory in the 160km CEI3* while Martin McNamara also scored a win for Ireland with Horseware HLM Iguazu in the CEI2* 120km 2*.