GREENHILLS Riding Club won the Horseware Team Show Jumping Championship last Sunday after a nail-biting finish when their captain had to jump a clear round to secure the title at the RDS.

Last to go, Grainne Alexander jumped a much needed clear round on her 15-year-old chesnut ISH mare, Knockenpower Ginger. Her performance left the Kildare-based club out in front on a total of four faults to claim the spoils, having last won in 2014.

Team chef d’equipe Mary Kane said: ‘We are so delighted to have won this competition. Although we have been lucky to win it before, this year was a special occasion.

“My daughter Grainne, her sister-in-law Olwyn and my son-in-law Roland were on the team, as well as one of our most loyal and longest serving members, Clare Stanley. They all performed brilliantly in a high-class field of competitors and I couldn’t be prouder of their achievement.”

Over 130 teams took part in qualifiers nationwide with the top nine teams going forward to the final which took place in Simmonscourt, where nine double clear rounds were recorded over Paul Duffy’s 12-fence track which included 15 jumping efforts.

After the opening round, Corrib and Greenhills were leading on zero penalties, while Carne and last year’s winners, Highland Lodge, were next best on four faults. The 2015 winners Killossery were lying in fifth place at the halfway point on six faults, while Ross House and Springmount were further back on eight faults. Greenvalley and Mill Road brought up the rear on 13 and 41 faults respectively.

The leaderboard changed numerous times as the competition progressed, however the three-member team from Mill Road could not improve on their earlier tally to finish bottom in ninth. They were unfortunate as Sarah Neville was a late withdrawal due to an injury sustained leading up to the final.

Greenvalley also struggled to move up the placings after the Wicklow-based club added a further eight faults to finish on 21, while defending champions Highland Lodge dropped down the field to finish level with the Wicklow club after they added 13 faults in the second round. The Cork-based club, however, had the quicker time to take seventh place ahead of Greenvalley.

Springmount added a further eight faults to finish on 16 in sixth place, an improvement on their seventh place in last year’s final.

comeback

Ross House staged a late comeback when they had nothing to add to their opening tally of eight. This brought them level with Carne who picked up a further four penalties in the second round and Corrib who also dropped out of contention when they racked up eight faults.

The newcomers from Ross House had a six-second lead over Corrib to move up into third place ahead of the Galway-based club, who were just ahead of Carne in fifth.

The Killossery club returned with a clean sheet in the second round to finish on their opening tally of six penalties leaving them in second place, a repeat of the 2014 championship when they also finished behind Greenhills.

However, it certainly wasn’t all plain sailing for the Kildare club as it came down to their team captain who was last to jump.

Roland Dalton produced a double clear round on Mrs Maggie for the team, while Clare Stanley (The Countess of Kerry) returned with two fences on the floor and Olwyn Butler (Santero) lowered the fifth fence.

This left their captain, Grainne Alexander, with no room to manoeuvre – a single fence down would hand the title over to the north county Dublin club.

Alexander was in no form to relinquish the title. The Sallins resident produced a foot-perfect round with her Irish Sport Horse, Knockenpower Ginger, and broke the beam with nothing to add to take the honours for the Kildare club for the fourth time since 2003.

Alexander said afterwards: “It really came down to the wire. I was last to go but the penultimate team from Corrib had the advantage in that a clear round from them would have secured the win. When that didn’t unfold, the opportunity arose for us to take the title, but I had to jump clear.

“Thankfully, the mare jumped as if she knew what was at stake and we did what was needed to win the magnificent trophy. It was a super competition with great sportsmanship from all teams.”