IT’S not often we get to see a Badminton CCI5* winner on Irish soil so it was great to see Greenacres Special Cavalier (Cavalier Royale) show her class and take the victory in the Nutriscience CCI4*-S at Ballindenisk International.

Caroline Powell (NZL) steered the Irish-bred mare to victory for a second time on Cork soil after posting a 26.5 in the dressage arena and keeping a clean jumping sheet, adding only time on the cross-country course. The combination previously won at this venue at the same level in September 2023, a season prior to their historic Badminton win. “The mare has been in great form this year and she ran really well here so it sets her up nicely to go back to Badminton next week,” remarked Powell.

Patrick Whelan and Ikoon Lan and Daragh Byrne and Kilcannon Ramiro are also both Badminton-bound after their final runs in Ballindenisk, both having an uncharacteristic 20 penalties at fence seven on the cross-country; they will be hoping to put that behind them next week.

The field had plenty of Badminton-bound combinations getting their final runs in before they make the trip to Gloucestershire over the coming days. Sarah Ennis and Grantstown Jackson (ISH by Clover Brigade) put in the perfect preparatory performance posting a double clear jumping with some time penalties added to their dressage score of 36.3 for third place. Sam Watson and Ballyneety Rocketman (ISH by Diamond Discovery) opted for a steady run cross-country which dropped them down the leaderboard but will have set them up nicely for their trip to Cotswolds.

Tom Jackson and United 26 were the only combination who managed to go clear inside the time on the cross-country track and finish on their dressage score to take second place.

“It’s his first time at this level and he stormed around that track, I couldn’t be more pleased with him,” commented Jackson. “He made a few small mistakes in his dressage test earlier in the week, but overall I’m really happy with how he has coped this week.” Tom’s other mount HH Moonwalk was in contention after the first two phases but a flag penalty on course dropped them outside the top 10.