A STARTLIST of 27 combinations lined up for the Foran Equine CCI2*, with a mainly Irish contingent, it was British rider John Tilley and Grand Espoir (AES) who topped the leaderboard. A solid dressage score of 32.7 penalties saw them sit inside the top 10 heading into the jumping phases, but it was their ability to make full use of Grand Espoir’s blood in the testing cross-country conditions that proved decisive.

The pair climbed the leaderboard, with one of only two clear rounds inside the time on Saturday. Tilley and Grand Espoir came into the weekend on the back of two national wins at Frankfort Stud and Hillcrest Equestrian Centre in the weeks leading up to the event.

“I’m so delighted with the horse, he performed brilliantly all week!” commented the Kilkenny Sport Horse-based British rider. “He finds galloping in soft ground easy, so the aim was to go out and attack the course, while letting ‘Arthur’ dictate the speed. It was similar here two years ago, so I had an idea where horses would start to feel tired and where to allow them catch their breath and he finished so well.” Another one to compliment the team at Millstreet on their efforts across the weekend, he said: “The course was presented beautifully, but ground conditions did ride soft and ended up being a part of deciding the final placings.”

Ireland’s Lexi Kilfeather and Haschich de Talma (SBSF), owned by Everina Kilfeather, will be pleased with their weekend, finishing in second place. Though there was over 10 per cent difference in marks between the ground jury of Douglas Hibbert (GBR), Keike Kabashima (Winter-Nishi) (JPN) and Marie Hennessy (IRL), Kilfeather sat third after the first phase on a score of 30 penalties. They managed to keep a clean sheet in the show jumping arena, but added 4.0 time penalties on the cross-country course, leaving them in eventual second.

Alison Holden and her husband Eamon’s Late’s Eddie (ISH) delivered a consistent performance across all phases to finish on a score of 34.8 penalties and secure third place. One of only two competitors to achieve a sub-30 score in the first phase, Holden only added time penalties in both jumping phases during the weekend.

Maeve Deverell and Annaharvey Dunowen (ISH) led the field after dressage on a score of 27.5 penalties, but they retired at fence 11 on the cross-country, bringing their weekend to an early end. Another class where cross-country time penalties switched up the leaderboard, David Nyhan was rewarded for his fast round on the Michael Byrne-bred Coolafancy (ISH).

They were the only other combination to make the time, resulting in a fourth place finish, their highest placing at International level.