Opium Lux hits a high for Whelan

CCI1*-Intro

PATRICK Whelan had to give best to fellow Wexford native Lucy Latta in the CCI3*-S but he wasn’t to be denied in the CCI1*-Intro where, riding Lawrence Patterson’s Drumnaconnell Opium Lux for just the third time at an event, he won on his dressage score.

On Saturday, Faith Ponsonby (C) and John Lyttle (B) had the Brian Morrison-partnered Global Lilliehof at the top of their combined scores after dressage on 71.20% (28.8 penalties). However, this six-year-old mare, who was withdrawn before show jumping in a similar class at Kilguilkey House earlier last month, was one of 12 in the 16-runner class to have a problem in the show jumping arena the following morning. The eight penalties she accrued eventually saw her drop to fourth as, while she later went clear across the country, so did all but one of her rivals in this phase.

Recording one of the four clear rounds over the coloured poles, Whelan and Drumnaconnell Opium Lux then moved into the lead on 29.9 penalties and there they stayed. With a double clear inside the time, Northern Region competitor, Gemma Goodrich, improved from ninth after dressage into overall second with her seven-year-old Tawnmore Snapdragon mare Lisnamuck Ab Fab (34.8) while, despite a fence down show jumping, Kinsale’s Alice Copithorne finished third with Deirdre Connolly’s home-bred Robin De La Maison mare, Fairytale (35.2).

“I only have the horse about a month so, between getting him late and all the cancellations and changes in dates, etc, it was hard to get a run into him,” said Whelan of the seven-year-old Lux Z gelding who was bred by Kedrah House Stud out of Ricardos Carling Queen (by Ricardo Z), a half-sister to the show jumper Carling King (Olympic Games, etc) among others. “When he arrived down in Wexford, the plan was to go for the two-star short at Ballindenisk but we just couldn’t manage it.

“As he had been show jumping for the past two years and last evented in May 2018, we were going to run him in an EI100 at Crecora but, when they changed all the classes, he ended up going in a EI110 and I was delighted with him there. We did the one-star intro at Kilguilkey and I thought he had stepped up well for that and had improved again before Ballindenisk. I’d hope to get another run into him if he was to compete in the international back at Ballindenisk at the end of the month. He’s a lovely horse; a very good jumper and very careful.”

Gemma Goodrich, who combines being a mother of two with eventing, running Lisnahilt Equestrian and lecturing in computers, was competing in an international event for the first time since September 2011. She expressed herself to be “beyond thrilled” having finished second with Carole Young’s Lisnabuck Ab Fab, aka Bubble. Along with husband Steven, daughter Ana (eight) and son Alec (four), she lives high on the hills near Slemish Mountain in Co Antrim, spent the lockdown period working with the Northern Region’s cross-country course designer, Adam Stevenson, in developing the cross-country playpen at Lisnahilt which has a lot of ditches, haw-haws, etc.

“This will be for hire, for teaching and me to use,” said Goodwich who was able to develop the playpen thanks to the George Mernagh Bursary she won last year. “Steven, who is a manager in a plumbing and heating retail business, is great with his hands and he kept ringing Adam with more ideas for fences! I now work about 50% of the time in lecturing but would love to cut down on that to focus on the business at home. It’s thanks to Carole that I’m back eventing at a higher level but we now have a lovely group of owners here with nice horses to ride.

“With this year turning out as it did, we had planned on bringing Bubble to Tatts next year but, as that is now gone, which is very disappointing, we will have to consider our options which might involve a trip across the water. The mare was the leading EI90 horse in the Northern Region last year so she has developed well this season. She is a very good jumper, she is jumping 1.20m at unaffiliated shows, so over the winter I want to work on her dressage get her established at medium work.”