ONLY Irish riders Lucy Latta and Ian Cassells could surpass and separate British Olympian Tom McEwen’s three rides in the first phase of the Noel C Duggan Structural Steel CCI4*-S at Millstreet. Latta led the way with the Burghley-bound RCA Patron Saint after she and the Crampton family’s 15-year-old bay gelding were the only combination to be awarded a sub-30 score by the Ground Jury of Emma Flegman (AUS), Agnieszka Mossakowska (POL) and Faith Ponsonby (IRL).

The closest McEwen came to their mark of 29.9 was with the Irish Sport Horse Brookfield Future News, second on 31.3, while Cassells lay a fraction further back with his championship ride Millridge Atlantis on 31.5. McEwen occupied fourth and fifth on the leaderboard with the Irish Sport Horse The Fieldmaster (31.7) and the German-bred Isa (32.6) respectively, while Australia’s Isabel English slotted into sixth on Cil Dara Bombay S (33).

Latta dropped to 10th place after Saturday’s show jumping phase, when she incurred eight faults with RCA Patron Saint, leaving McEwen at the top of the leaderboard. Finishing a single second over the time allowed meant that Cassells also dropped into third, behind McEwen and The Fieldmaster, before choosing to withdraw before the final phase ahead of his trip to Aachen for the FEI Eventing World Championships. A third faultless round meant McEwen also lay fourth with Isa, ahead of English, while Patrick Whelan rose from 10th after dressage to seventh with a clear round on Altitu and Kevin McNab rose to sixth riding Faro Imp.

As was the case in several of the classes at Millstreet, the cross-country had a huge impact on the final result, and McEwen’s winning ride was the fastest of the class. Brookfield Future News added just 2.8 time penalties to his first phase score to finish on a total of 34.1 and win by a wide margin from his stablemate The Fieldmaster, who completed on 40.5.

McNab climbed further up the standings to third with Faro Imp after another of the quicker rounds, as did Whelan and Altitu, fourth for the home nation. Sweden’s Sofia Sjoberg finished fifth riding Bryjamolga VH Marienshof Z, while Latta took sixth with RCA Patron Saint.

“He felt great throughout the weekend, especially out on the cross-country,” said Latta of her former Badminton runner-up. “That will be his final run before Burghley. Millstreet did a super job on the ground, and huge credit to all the team involved,” she concluded.