BRITON Rachel Proudley and Easy Boy de Laubry Z won last Saturday night’s Defender Puissance as the only pair to attempt and clear the big red wall at a height of 2.15m, becoming the first female winner in 61 years.

The last time a female to win the class was in 1964, when Britain’s Pat Moss-Carlsson, sister of Formula 1 driver Stirling Moss and a successful rally driver herself, shared victory with Johnny Kidd.

Some 14 starters lined out for the competition and faced a first-round challenge of four fences - an oxer, a vertical, a triple bar and, finally, the wall which stood at 1.80m.

Three combinations, Pedro Junquerira Muylaert (Q7 Van T’Ruytershof), Luis Fernando Larrazabal (Check Me Out PS) and Gracie Johnson (Cruze) all collected four faults in round one, while Paul Gaff (Jaranco VS) withdrew.

In round two, the wall was raised to 2m and riders just had to jump the triple bar and the wall. A total of 10 combinations took it on.

Sven Hadley (Brandonview First Edition) and Oisin Magee (Landslide AW) both had the wall down, while Elliott Smith and Flamboyant III provided some excitement for the crowd when they parted ways, complete with air jacket inflation and the loss of the bridle.

With just seven left to progress to round three, the wall went to 2.10m. The round began with a heart-in-your-mouth moment when a very keen Shanaclough Luichew carried Andrew Hodgins to the wall, left early and had it down.

Previous winners Mikey Pender (Hearton du Bois Halleux), as well as Brendan Murphy (Erne Riverrun) and Cian O’Connor (CC Unesco) all faulted at the wall, which meant all four of them shared third place.

Britain’s Paul Sims (Kingfisher) ducked out to the left, which caused them to retire.

This left just two combinations, Proudley and Ireland’s Paddy O’Donnell riding his Hickstead Derby partner Kilcorig Elysium, that cleared the wall at 2.10m and progressed to round four.

After some consideration, O’Donnell decided to retire, which left Proudley alone in progressing to take on the wall at 2.15m.

Skill and courage

Proudley, who works for Ireland’s Richard Howley, is the 2025 European young rider team bronze and individual gold medallist, both of which she won riding the Irish-bred mare Quality Street by OBOS Quality 004.

She showed all the skill and courage that earned her those titles when she took on and cleared the massive wall.

Following the win, she said: “I was quietly confident going in. He jumped well in the previous rounds, the last round was actually his best.

“He is so brave and has such a great attitude. You can trust him all the way. It’s an unbelievable feeling. He’s quite chilled out. He goes hunting during the winter and otherwise just hacks out. He is so easy going.

“This is my first time in Dublin, it has been amazing. I qualified in Mullingar and then went on to win the 1.45m Grand Prix there the following week.

"We were excited to come here. The crowd here is incredible. It’s so amazing to compete here, I can’t wait to come back,” the winner added.

The HK Horses team announced that €5,000 of the prize money will be donated to Temple Street Children’s Hospital and the RDS has since committed to matching that amount. Read the full story on the donation on page 104.