Good year on home soil for Watson and Imperial Sky

MUCH to the relief of all concerned, and following last year’s cancellation, the weather remained fair for Ballindenisk in April.

As always, the popular fixture attracted a large overseas entry, but much to the delight of connections, it was Ireland’s Sam Watson who landed the feature CCI4*-L with the grey Imperial Sky. The Carlow man was the sole major Irish winner, although Lorraine Kennedy piloted the evergreen Major Furisto to win Ballindenisk’s inaugural CCI*Intro.

Although not attracting quite the same massive entry as usual, Tattersalls staged another slickly run event at the end of May. Ironically, the footing which has had its critics in the past, was perfect and following extensive groundworks, should remain that way.

Newly-crowned world number one Tim Price was among the star-studded array of winners, while Ireland’s Cathal Daniels landed an emotional CCI3*U25 win with Jo Breheny’s homebred LEB Lias Jewel. The main The Irish Field-sponsored long format four-star feature went to Izzy Taylor who, demonstrating her love for the venue, teamed up with the level rookie PSH Gazelle.

For the home side, Esib Power and Sam Watson narrowly missed out on podium places, enjoying great spins with Samuel Thomas and Tullabeg Flamenco.

The remaining four internationals were all staged in Munster and first up at the end of June was the Fernhill Sport Horses fixture at Kilguilkey House near Mallow. Attracting entries which far exceeded those of 2018, and staged over three days of near perfect eventing conditions, Kilguilkey welcomed returning riders from Australia, Italy and Great Britain as well as two Olympic contenders from Japan.

Enjoying a remarkable run of success, Cathal Daniels teamed up with Jo Breheny’s Tattersalls heroine LEB Lias Jewel to win the feature CCI4*-S and rack up his third international win in just four weeks.

Cathal Daniels and LEB Lias Jewel won the Global Event Horses CCI4*-S at the Fernhill Sport Horses (Kilguilkey) International \ EquusPix Photography

A month later, the Semalease Camphire International opened its gates to a record entry of riders from no less than 16 countries. The fixture, which for the first time hosted the Irish leg of the FEI Nations Cup series, was an outstanding success and closed with an Irish win and a surprise announcement that was beamed around the world.

Indeed, it would have been hard to have penned a better script. Following Sam Watson’s brilliant victory in the feature CCI4*-S and team Ireland’s close second in the Nations Cup, it was announced that the eventing legend Sir Mark Todd was to retire from the sport.

Taking his place on the podium as a member of the winning New Zealand nations cup team, Todd had bowed out at the top, having made the final decision only a few minutes earlier.

The Japanese ace Kazuma Tomoto secured his Olympic qualification when landing the CCI4*-L, while Sian Coleman (Lady Baton Rouge) racked up Ireland’s second win of the weekend in the CCI3*-L.

Yet another large overseas contingent made their way to a soggy Millstreet in August, where the relentless rain had tested the organisers to their limits. The entire event had been within a whisker of being pulled, but due to some dogged determination and a copious amount of re-planning, it eventually ran to schedule.

Among the well supported classes, Millstreet also hosted the first ever Irish leg of the lucrative Event Riders Masters Series.

The hype filled class did not disappoint, and building to an electrifying climax, Kiwi rider Lucy Jackson shaved seconds off the clock to scorch past the Irish duo of Sam Watson in second, who produced his best ever score of 27.5 aboard Imperial Sky, and Sarah Ennis in fourth with Horseware Stellor Rebound on his own run of the season.

Australia’s Kevin McNab, who pocketed the HSI €10,000 bonus in 2018, had been a man on a mission all season. He won qualifying classes at Kilguilkey and Camphire, and racking up his third Irish three-star win at Millstreet, secured the bonus for the second year in succession.

Like Millstreet, Ballindenisk in September was at the mercy of the weather. Having attracted its biggest international entry to date and undertaken a perfect preparation, the entire event was then threatened by a weather warning for Saturday afternoon.

Rain of biblical proportions was predicted, and in what ultimately turned out to be a stroke of genius, Peter Fell and his team not only re-jigged the timetable, but moved entire dressage and show jumping arenas to accommodate it.

WEG gold medallist Ros Canter justified her ante-post favouritism to win the CCI4*-L from the front, while Cathal Daniels (OLS Queen Bee) landed Ireland’s sole win of the weekend in the CCI2*-L.

Underage

The pony squad of Grace Tyrell (Fiona’s Fionn), Alex Connors (Millridge Buachaill Bui), Brian Kuehnle (Tullibards Sixth Sense) and Tiggy Hancock (Coppenagh Spring Sparrow) creditably netted a bronze team medal at Strzegom, while at Maarsbergen in July, the young rider and junior squads were both just out of the medal placings in fourth.

Chloe Fagan was the highest placed individual overall in spot.

Bronze medal winners: Olivia Swan, Brian Kuehnle, Joanne Hurley of GAIN Equine Nutrition, team manager Becky Cullen, Ronan Murphy, CEO of Horse Sport Ireland, Tiggy Hancock, Susan Shanahan, Grace Tyrrell, and Alex Connors \ Matt Browne/Sportsfile