THE owner/rider combination of Dermot Molloy and Diarmuid Ryan won’t be making plans for Two Mile Nigel from now on as he has been sold to The Netherlands and was due to leave for his new home with Brigitte Vonk on Thursday.

The son of King Vinny did so with a Dublin Horse Show championship title to his credit having topped the scores of Michaela Bowling (ride) and Terry Chalmers (conformation) in the four and five-year-old performance Irish Draught class as the show opened last Wednesday week.

This was a comprehensive victory for Ryan and Two Mile Nigel as they amassed 304 points which left them well clear of their 11 rivals. These were headed by Dominic Furnell and another chesnut, the five-year-old Young Carrabawn gelding Mountbatten, who finished reserve although completing on the same score (286) as the Ryan-partnered Clogher Highlander, a four-year-old son of Farmhill Highlander.

Both horses had jumped clear over the Dereck Hamilton-designed track in Ring 2 with Mountbatten being given the nod by virtue of his higher ride mark (36 to 35).

Molloy purchased Two Mile Nigel as a foal from Co Kerry’s Jerry McMahon who bred him out of the Penmerryls Rhythm And Blues mare Two Mile Gretta. He was shown a few times in hand but really started to turn heads when appearing under saddle. At his first major show as a four-year-old he won the novice supreme championship at the 2024 Northern Ireland Festival under Molloy.

With Ryan in the saddle, he was third in his performance ID class here last August, filled the same position in the four-year-old heavyweight hunter class and then signed off with a win in the four-year-old working hunter class and going reserve champion. A pole down in the last class on Sunday scuppered his chances of a repeat.