JASON Foley and the French-bred gelding Chedington Fixit won the 1.35m Spring Grand Prix in Barnadown last Sunday.

By Diamant de Semilly, out of Pinochetta, by Premium de Laubry, the nine-year-old saw off stiff competition in the 50-strong class to claim the top-spot and the majority of the €3,000 prize fund in the MSK Equestrian Sand-supported class.

Commenting on his win, Foley told The Irish Field: “We’re delighted with him. I got him at the back end of last year. He is owned by Ellie Guy, who is training here with us at Castlefield. She brought the horse over and asked me to ride him for her.

“He has been very good and very useful to me. His results are always good; in Oliva last year, he was clear in a three-star Grand Prix when he was just eight years old. Already then, we knew that he was capable of doing better things. We then took him to Rihan in France at the start of this year and he was clear in two, two-star Grand Prix and placed in both. He is very consistent. He’s a good horse for me to have on my team, and good to be able to do it with Ellie.

“Ellie has two horses herself and wants to progress up to riding at 1.45m level consistently. She likes it here and enjoys the shows. She likes being part of the Castlefield team.

“My other horse, which made it into the jump-off yesterday, Guerlain De Hus (Kannan x Levistan) is just eight years old and wouldn’t have that much experience; I knew it would be a fast jump-off with so many in it, so we decided to leave her for another day. We think quite a bit of her and I didn’t fancy rushing her around for no reason. She’s special, and I didn’t think yesterday was her day.

“I was quite early to go in the jump-off. I know Fixit well, I’ve had him away so I was able to be quite quick on my distances. He has a big stride, so I was quite quick from one to two and he’s good on the turn back, so I rolled him back tight to the third.

“He was very good into the double, I think that’s where I made up the time. You can just trust him to jump in and jump out so, where everyone else had to take a second there, I was able to just stay going. It was a forward six to the final fence and he can do that very easily.

“I think it was a very smooth round all round, his experience really showed. When you have a smooth round like that, it may not look the fastest, but it actually is in the end.

“Our plan going forward is to stick around for the minute. We will do the qualifiers for Dublin with the young horses and will also follow the Premier Series. I’ll stay at home until after Dublin and then probably travel again after that.”

Seamus Hughes Kennedy and Echonix were runners up in the TRM Spring Tour at Barnadown on Sunday \ Laurence Dunne jumpinaction.net

Competitive jump-off

Seventeen of the 50 starters made it into the timed decider. Of these, just seven managed to keep a clean sheet throughout to head proceedings.

Foley was fastest in a time of 34.46 for the win, while Seamus Hughes Kennedy and Brendan McSorley’s 10-year-old stallion Echonix (Aganix Du Seigneur x Clover Echo) finished as runners-up in 35.62.

Sorcha Hennessy’s Inlaws Manolo (Manolo Corland x Lord Z) was ridden into third place by Derek McConnell in 36.07.

Ethan Ahearne guided Dermott Walsh’s eight-year-old LVS Goldrush (Stakkato Gold x Stakkato) into fourth in 36.44, while fifth was Captain James Whyte aboard the Minister For Defence’s Hawthorn Hill (Cardento x Limmerick) in 39.08.

Junior Kian Dore completed the line up, taking sixth place with his father Carl’s Belgian-bred Puerto Rico Van’T Roosakker (Kannan x Echo Van T Spieveld).

The seventh, and only other double clear, was Junior Jack Murphy riding Valerie O’Reilly’s Dinard H (Diarado x Corrado I).

The next, and penultimate round of the TRM/Show jumpers Club Spring Tour takes place tomorrow, April 14th, at Tipperary Equestrian.

Sophie Richards and Monbeg Balou (7 YO), winners of the 1.30m inc Hibernia Seven-year-old Young Horse League at Barnadown on Sunday \ Laurence Dunne jumpinaction.net

1.30m two-phase

Rider Sophie Richards and Maurice Cousins claimed one for the home side when they captured the 1.30m two-phase with their Brendan Doyle-bred seven-year-old gelding Monbeg Balou (Balou du Rouet x Zacharov TN).

The duo recorded a very fast second round time of 32.59, over two and a half seconds ahead of second placed Katie Power with Power Equine’s Starfield Brighteye (Luidam x Vivaldo van het Costersveld) in 35.01.

Young rider Emma O’Connor riding Quality Diamond (O.B.O.S. Quality 004 x Coolcorron Cool Diamond) took third place in 35.44.

Bríd Ryan and Eugene Ryan’s six-year-old Olivia Brennan-bred mare GCS Jasmine (Cardento x Plot Blue) slotted into fourth in 35.74.

Noel Dunne rode Colette Hart’s Rockstar Rory (Womanizer x Black Hand) into fifth, while Brendan Murphy and Linda Courtney’s LCC Dunard Lady Dominator (Dominator 2000 Z x Captain Clover) were sixth.