DUFFY'S THE MAN OF THE MOMENT
Alex Duffy proved the one to beat this week when after successful outings in both Cavan Grand Prix and the RDS Eight Year Old and Over qualifier he claimed the lion’s share of the €3000 on offer in Sunday’s TRI sponsored Kill International Grand Prix.
Partnered with Tiernan Gill’s Dutch bred Flogas Ucorado B Duffy had been ousted from the young rider section due to his previous win but found no difficulty with the raised height on this mount.
The young rider put in a show stopping performance to score his second consecutive victory with the maximum ten points gained seeing him sitting on top of the leader board of the Showjumping Ireland National Grand Prix League.
The Ballina native has been paired with Flogas Ucorado B since the end of last year and the nine year old Gran Corrado gelding has proved to be a useful mount for Duffy. with a second placed outing in a recent 1.40m class at Coilóg the pair went one better in last week’s RDS qualifier at the same venue. Duffy will now travel to Lisbon for Nations Cup duty with his winning mount from Cavan, Courtown and the Edenrock Investments owned Tampa.
Adverse weather conditions led to the postponement of Rolestown Show meaning Kill Equestrian centre stepped in to host the Grand Prix. Tom Holden designed a course that demanded precision riding with every fence presenting a challenge.
Two of three falls throughout the day came when horses baulked at a blue vertical facing into a crowd of spectators and overall only eleven of the sixty two strong field managed to navigate the course without mishap. Kildare local Wesley Ryan proved out of luck with his own Artic Moonlight when one time penalty left them out of the running.
Conor Drain provided the first clear with Shanroe Penny, one of only two in the young rider section. On form earlier in the year this combination won four legs of the Guidam Spring Tour but proved out of luck on this occasion when acting as pathfinder in the jump-off. Not one to be easily put off Drain upped the ante with his other mount Chekane to secure eventual fourth place in the line up when recording 39.62 with nothing to add.
Junior Doyle put his first points on the board when slotting into eventual seventh on the eight year old Belgian Warmblood Arnold.
Not to be outdone Edward Doyle secured the runner up position with Flexing when leaving all the poles in their cups in a time of 33.08.
A full sister to Rich Fellor’s Flexible, the ten year old home bred Cruising mare has been on form of late featuring in the Louth County leg of the Premier Series as well as winning the Easter Grand Prix at Kill as the only clear round.
On site jockey and last year’s Dublin Horse Show Puissance winner Neal Fearon proved next fastest on Mary Lou Cassone’s eleven year old gelding Cinemax when stopping the clock fractions in arrears at 33.71 to secure the yellow rosette.
Glen Leddy supplied the final clear round on his own Verdi Van Paemel to slot into fifth place in the line up albeit in a more sedate time of 41.18.
Gary Quinn was the fastest of the four faulters with Receurdame and his time of 36.21 proved sufficient for sixth place in the line up to finish his day in style after victory in the TRI sponsored 1.20m with Mark McAuley’s Luciano.
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