Moloney, McGuane and Duffy enter three-star winner’s circle
Spruce Meadows must feel like a second home to Jordan Coyle given the level of success the Ardmore native has enjoyed at the famed Canadian venue this year and he added to his impressive tally with another couple of five-star victories in Alberta in the past few days.
Coyle joined forces with his old pal, For Gold to get the show on the road at the Masters on Wednesday night, racking up an eighth five-star triumph of the year together and a seventh at Spruce Meadows, when blitzing to victory over 74 other rivals in the TELUS Cup, a 1.50m speed.
They were also victorious at Hickstead and are a partnership that have helped the elder Coyle sibling rise to No 34 in the world rankings, one of seven Irish athletes in the top 35 – an astounding representation.
Falkirk Farm’s 14-year-old gelding had more than half the field of 75 still to come when he had navigated the 13 jumping efforts in the International Ring in a time of 57.16 but the closest to them was Sanne Thijssen (NED) who stopped the clock on 57.47 with Cupcake Z.
Kara Chad gave the home support something to shout about in third, with Corinna Z clear in 58.66.
“He only jumped two shows since he left,” Coyle said of For Gold. “But the plan was to bring him back here… I didn’t go fast on him. That’s not him going fast at all. So it was surprising that (the time) held up, to be honest.
“He hasn’t done a jump, a pole on the ground, since Dublin, which was a little over two weeks ago. Today he felt amazing. I think he was happy to be back here.
“Look, pressure is every day. It’s probably one of my better assets, maybe, is I don’t think too much about the pressure. It doesn’t really come into it. Every day I want to win, every day I want to do the best for the horse. It’s just the same. It’s another day. Luckily, this week there’s a little more money than normal.”
The Derry pilot maintains that his horses know there is something special about Spruce Meadows.
“America, we don’t usually get presentations at all. The first time (For Gold) won the class here this summer, when he went in for the presentation, he really lit up. Every day, it was like he wanted to win. He got into it. I really think it’s the atmosphere. He’s a little bit older, he needs something to look forward to.
“When I got him (two years ago), he was good from the start. He was good before I got him. These classes, he can do them so easily. In the summer, he jumped four days a week, every week. When he went home, the vets said he’s better now than when he went to the show. Today, he felt amazing. I think he was happy to be back here.”
Coyle backed it up with success in the Paramount Resources Cup on Friday night, this time securing the honours in a jump-off on Falkirk Farm’s Action T.
The duo were joined by Bertram Allen and Huricane de Champloue in the tiebreaker for the 1.45m class but the Wexford athlete’s eight-year-old had a rail down and they had to settle for fifth. Allen would go on to finish sixth in the subsequent 1.60m Tourmaline Oil Cup with Pacino Amiro.
Coyle and Action T (above) were brilliant however, leaving all the fences intact and just edging out Britain’s Charlie Jones and Capitale 6 with a time of 37.91, compared to the runners-up’s 38.22.
On Sunday night, Tom Wachman followed up his tremendous double clear in the Nations Cup by bagging the silver medal in the Suncor Cup with Do It Easy.
With faults converted to time, Wachman and his 12-year-old gelding were actually the quickest clear round in the 1.50m class and took the lead with a time of 81.48.
It withstood the attempts of a third of the field but there is just no stopping Richard Vogel right now and the German and Phenyo van het Keysersbos could actually afford to have a rail down and still take more than three seconds off Wachman’s time, registering 78.16.
It still rounded off another very good week for the 20-year-old Tipperary man, who recently graduated from college, where he was studying commerce.
Richie Moloney continued the North American success for Irish riders with a three-star two-phase triumph at Traverse City on Skelwith Diamond Lady. The pair had just four-hundredths of a second to spare to get their week off to an excellent start
The Kilkenny rider got the Silver Oak Jumper Tournament off to the ideal start by coming out on top of a 39 other combinations along with his consistent mare in the Turtle Creek Casino & Hotel International Ring.
It was almost as close as you can get however, with the timers stopping in Moloney’s favour on 32.84 seconds, the tiniest of fractions quicker than Kelli Cruciotti Vanderveen (USA) aboard Mochito vd Mishagen.
Philip McGuane and Michael Duffy were both victorious at the HITS Hudson Valley show in Augerties.
McGuane landed the spoils in the Winning Round class with My Lady van de Krekel. The duo were quickest in the jump-off, going clear in 32.55, just under half a second faster than Nayel Nassar (EGY) with Coronado. Duffy was fourth with RMF Balouwinsky.
McGuane would then finish runner-up to World No 1, Kent Farrington (USA) in Saturday’s $125,000 three-star Grand Prix, with just eight-hundredths of a second separating the top two.
Only three double clears were recorded in the Douglas Elliman GP Stadium, with course designer Alan Wade building what Farrington described as “a proper course” that “separated the field”.
McGuane and the 11-year-old Orphea HQ excelled, jumping a flawless round once more in a time of 39.2 seconds but Farrington and Grass de Mars found the tiniest fraction more to snatch the winner’s prize from the Clare pilot’s grasp.
Michael Duffy brought the curtain down on his first visit to Saugerties to in memorable style by scoring in the HITS Grand Prix on Sunday.
Nine combinations emerged from the opening round but the jump-off really sorted them out and when the dust settled, it was the Galwegian and the diminutive grey stallion, RMF Clinton Son standing tallest, recording a second clear in 33.844 seconds to prevail by almost a full second from Sarah Segal (USA) and Tom Hanks.
“I’ve had him a good few years,” Duffy said afterwards. “He’s owned by Monica McCourt, who’s been a great supporter of mine down through the years. He’s super-fast, he’s 13 now, I have him quite a while. He’s like a big pony. He’s a champion happy hacker as well.
“In the jump-off there was a long seven (strides), one to two, and seven again, two to three, and I went outside and did eight. He jumped a little left, I didn’t want to rush him the first couple, and then he was very good at the turn in and back at the double.”