McEvoy and Howley among other victors
There were a trio of Irish winners at three-star level in Spain last week at 1.45m or higher, with Tom Wachman a Grand Prix victor in Vejer de la Frontera on Sunday, just a few hours after Niamh McEvoy had raised the green, white and orange in the morning’s speed class at the venue.
Earlier in the week in Oliva, it was Richard Howley that took the highest step on the podium, and as ever, there were a number of competitive placed efforts along the way by a wide variety of athletes all over the world.
Coolmore Showjumping’s Do It Easy has been the conveyance for many of Wachman’s victories and that was the case in the feature at Montenmedio, which brough the curtain down on the Andalucía October Tour and international action at this venue until January.
The 1.55m class, counting towards the Longines Rankings, was held under Table A against the clock with a jump-off in the Don Antonio arena. Ten combinations completed the initial course of 13 fences and 16 jumping efforts without faults, and four remained clear in the second round.
Tipperary native Wachman, and his 13-year-old, registered a dominant victory (above) in the end, timing 37.82 in the tiebreaker to prevail by a stunning 3.31 seconds from home rider, Sira Martínez and Izara des Dames.
Monaco’s Anastasia Nielsen finished third with ESI Rocky, the Irish Sport Horse bred in Co Kilkenny at Ennisnag Stud and produced splendidly by Seamus Hughes Kennedy for his mother Clare Hughes from an historic double gold medal return at the European Young Rider Championships in 2023, to a fifth place individual finish at the European Senior Championships two years later.
Francis Derwin completed the top five with another Irish Sport Horse, Kerry Anne LLC’s, Flexi K, bred at Knightfield Stud in Co Kildare. There had to be an element of regret for the Westmeath pilot, however, as the duo recorded the fastest time of 37.63 seconds, but a rail down left him with four faults.
Wachman’s victory lap (above) completed an Irish double in the day’s two classes counting towards the Longines Rankings. Earlier in the morning, Niamh McEvoy had won the 1.45m speed class with Jargon DN, (Gbbs International) held in the Hickstead arena.
The Tyrone tyro and her 12-year-old gelding had finished third in Thursday’s main competition, but posted the quickest clear on this occasion – 64.08 seconds at the end of 15 jumping efforts. That was 18-hundredths quicker than runner-up, Britain’s Chloe Winchester with Casacenta Petra PS.
On Friday, it was Jessica Burke’s turn to podium in the same arena and also in a 1.50m speed class. Riding Fly For You (Liam Nicholas), the Galwegian was not far away from taking the W in another popular class, with 64 contestants.
Burke and her 11-year-old mare were clear and quick in 62.07, which was only six-tenths shy of the winning time set by Thursday’s winner, Cedric Angot (FRA), this time with Gandor du Fief.
Richard Howley made a splash at the three-star show in Oliva, as the Autumn Mediterranean Equestrian Tour series continues.
The Sligo athlete took the spoils in Friday’s Grand Prix qualifier, a 1.50m speed class, guiding Caprice d’Elle (Esm Equestrian) to a fairly convincing victory.
A considerable entry list of 64 signed on with the registrar and there were 16 jumping efforts to clear over the half-kilometre course.
Howley and his 14-year-old stallion were 20th out of the pocket but such was the excellence of their round, that their turbo-boosted time of 64.56 could not be bested, with almost a second back to the delightfully monikered runner-up Bart Jay Junior Vandecasteele (BEL), with Kadee van de Renthoeve Z.
The show ended on Sunday with Mark McAuley making the podium in the Grand Prix, guiding L’Arc En Ciel Z (Yannick Jorand) to third in the 1.50m feature.
Only six of the 55 participants recorded the necessary clear round to progress to the jump-off. Nick Nanning (NED) and Burgis Classina set an unbeatable benchmark when stopping the clock with a second clear in 36.83 but McAuley and his dynamic 13-year-old stallion slotted into second in 38.42.
Brazil’s Stephan de Freitas Barcha knocked the Louth athlete back one spot when taking a second off his time, courtesy of Dinozo Imperio Egipcio, but it represented a good day out for the duo.
Over in Valencia, the aforementioned Hughes Kennedy also made a Grand Prix podium, falling shy of the win by just over a half-second when a silver medallist on the Irish Sport Horse MHS Cosmo, bred at the Mill House Stud nursery in Gowran, Co Kilkenny by Sinéad Brennan, and owned, like Rocky before his sale to Nielsen, by the rider’s mother, Clare Hughes.
Clear rounds were relatively easy to come by, with 11 of the combinations progressing to a decider.
And the young Noresider and his grey were right in the mix when it came to needing gears, beating off nine of the opposition with another faultless round of jumping in 39.08 seconds, but finding Laura Roquet Puignero (ESP) too fast with Nina Puigroq, who stopped the clock in 38.66.
And there was a three-star podium too for James Chawke with his highly consistent One Edition (below), owned by Vanessa Mannix.
The Laois native claimed a bronze medal finish at Desert International Horse Park on Saturday, having set the target as the fourth rider in with his partner in the Grand Prix Stadium.
At that point, five of the nine combinations that had cleared Colm Quinn’s first test were still to go but two of them improved upon the 39.66 target.
American Shawn Casady was third-last to leave the pocket, with Cool Quarz and they ended Chawke’s hopes of another GP success by stopping the clock in a blistering 38.72, which would be good enough to bag gold. Kaitlin Campbell, now competing for Israel, was the penultimate athlete into the ring with Cosm
Elsewhere, Denis Lynch finished fourth in the four-star Grand Prix in Maastricht, won by Leopold van Asten (NED) and VDL Groep Kwienbellie. The Tipperary pilot and his exciting 11-year-old skewbald Ping Pong van de Lentamel, followed up their Longines Global Champions Tour heroics by posting a lovely double clear over the 1.55m track.
BREEDING
ESI ROCKY (ISH) – 2015 gelding by Stakkato Gold (HANN) out of Clonaslea (BWP) by For Pleasure (HANN). Breeder: Ennisnag Stud, Co Kilkenny. Owner: Anastasia Nielsen. Rider: Anastasia Nielsen (MON).
FLEXI K (ISH) – 2013 gelding by Flex A Bill (ISH)[TIH] out of Deeply Dippy K (ISH) by Luidam (KWPN). Breeder: Knightfield Stud, Co Kildare. Owner: Kerry Anne LLC. Rider: Francis Derwin (IRL)
MHS COSMO (ISH) – 2016 gr gelding by Plot Blue (KWPN) out of MHS Jersey Girl (ISH) by Cardento (HOLST). Breeder: Sinéad Brennan, Mill House Stud, Gowran, Co Kilkenny. Owner: Clare Hughes. Rider: Seamus Hughes Kennedy (IRL)
Photo credits
Tom Wachman: Pablo Lainez
James Chawke: DIHP