A TOTAL of 51 combinations started in Thursday afternoon’s Anglesea Serpentine Stakes with a massive field of 21 making it through to the jump-off.

First to go was Bertram Allen riding Izzy By Picobello (Cicero Z x Capriano). They set the target with a superb clear round in a time of 35.63 to lay down the gauntlet to the remaining 20. Eight of the 20 would leave all the fences intact to record clear rounds and following a long wait, victory and the lion’s share of the €50,000 prize fund went to Allen.

Speaking after the win, Allen told The Irish Field about his mount: “I’ve had him since he was five years old and he’s just getting better and better. He won in Falsterbo and he’s been knocking on the door recently in several Grand Prix classes. He’s just been missing something here or there but it looks like he’s really coming together now.

“It’s not easy going first but I was happy that I’d done my best today. In yesterday’s class I felt I could have done some things better here and there, but today I knew it would have to be a pretty fast horse to catch us. So I’m delighted.”

Allen continued: “Izzy is quite shy. He’s very relaxed. He’s a kind horse, he’d never be argumentative or stubborn in his ways, you just have to be nice and quiet with him.

“He always wants to do his best and do the right thing and please you. He’s almost like a dog, a real pet. He’s so cool in his mind that even if you ask him to go fast it doesn’t seem to faze him too much.”

POLLE RUNNER-UP

Japan’s Karen Polle took the runner-up spot riding With Wings, a 14-year-old Dutch gelding. Polle came fairly close to Allen’s time stopping the clock just 0.25 slower in 35.88 seconds.

Speaking after the class, Polle, who is trained by Irish chef d’equipe Rodrigo Pessoa, told The Irish Field about her background: “I was born in Japan but my base is in New York which is where I grew up.

“This year I was in Wellington, Florida, competing at WEF and in April I went to Belgium where I was based near Brussels with Rodrigo Pessoa who trains me.

“I went to Calgary for five weeks in the summer and then I came here, so I will go back to Connecticut in the fall.

“I declared for Japan four years ago now.

“This is my first year competing at five-star level in Europe. I had done five-star shows in Canada and the US but this is my first time here in Europe.

“My horse is really fast and he’s very, very special but it’s always hard to beat Bertram, of course, so I just gave it my best shot and when I was jumping over the last fence I thought ‘okay I think I’m pretty close’ and I looked up and I was very close ... but not quite close enough.”