IRISH riders Daniel Coyle (Cavalier Rusticana) and Christopher Megahey (Seapatrick Cruise Cavalier) shared the win of the Land Rover Puissance worth €30,000 last Saturday night.

Seventeen riders lined out for the first round of the competition and just three, Alexander Butler, Wesley Ryan and Vincent Byrne, failed to progress into round two. Butler, who was riding last year’s joint winner Cisero, and Ryan both had a refusal at the wall which stood at 1.80m, while Byrne collected four faults at fence two, an oxer.

The wall was raised to 1.95m for round two and a further three combinations, Brazil’s Yuri Mansur Guerios, Germany’s Tobias Meyer and Britain’s Harriet Nuttal were knocked out.

In round three, with the wall standing at 2.05m, Italy’s Juan Carlos Garcia (Cocodrillo) was the first to have it down. He was soon followed by Ireland’s Richard Howley (Rockstown Park) and Britian’s Holly Gillott and Quality Old Joker (ISH).

Just eight of the original 17 made it through to round four to tackle the wall at 2.15m. First in and crowd favourite Anthony O’Regan was knocked out at this stage, as well as Louise Saywell and Dassler.

Young Micheal Pender then did a very good job to stay on after his mount Mister Cruise took down the wall and stumbled on landing.

It was at this point that Bolesworth Puissance winner Trevor Breen and Lord Luidam called it a day when he stopped at the wall. Dermott Lennon then also ruled himself out of the running when Gelvins Touch collected four faults.

This left just three riders to go forward to the final round where the wall stood at maximum height of 2.20m.

First to go was Canadian-based Irish rider Daniel Coyle, who has been enjoying a lot of international success of late with some of Conor Swail’s former mounts. On this occasion he partnered Mary McCarthy’s Irish-bred 11-year-old Cavalier Rusticana (Try-Time x Cavalier Royale). They cleared the wall and were therefore guaranteed a share of the top prize money.

Next in was 19-year-old Christopher Megahey riding Seapatrick Cruise Cavalier (Cruise On x Cavalier Royale), winner of the Olympia and Liverpool Puissance last December, they too cleared the big wall and added their named to the elite list of Puissance winners.

Last to go was army rider Captain Geoff Curran and Dollanstown. A shoe lost after the previous round had to be replaced and delayed the pair coming into the ring. It may also have upset the horse’s rhythm because during all the previous he had been jumping the wall with ease, arguably the best of all the horses involved, yet during the final round he hit the wall and denied Curran a share in the top spot.