THE highest-placed Irish Sport Horse at Badminton was the Harry Meade-ridden Annaghmore Valoner (Coroner x Annaghmore Lady Valier - Black Walter), who was bred in Co Offaly by Sinead Healion. The combination rose from 11th after dressage to second after a speedy clear round on Saturday, before 4.8 show jumping penalties ultimately left them on the podium in third place.

Meade, the current world number one, said of the 14-year-old mare: “For me, she’s almost a perfect horse. She’s what we want in an event horse. Like horses for courses, it’s horses for riders, and everything I look for in a horse is what the Irish Sport Horse traditionally epitomises, which is the quickness of brain, the footwork and the stamina.” Further good news from the Healion breeding programme can be found on page 98.

Deerpairc Revelry (Hermes de Reve x Celerina - Cento), the ride of Britain’s Max Warburton, was next best of the Irish Sport Horses in the field, completing in 13th on a personal best five-star finishing score of 45.4. The 12-year-old grey gelding was bred by Dara O’Malley, and gradually climbed through the leader board from 17th place after dressage by virtue of two strong performances in the jumping phases.

Third best of the Irish Sport Horses and second of the Irish riders was the combination of Lady Ophelia and Padraig McCarthy, who finished 18th overall. This 14-year-old mare is out of the Over the River-sired Legal Lady, and a half-sister to Mark McAuley’s Aga Khan ride GRS Lady Amaro, but her sire is unknown. Breeders Denis and Lucy Hickey from Garyrichard Stud intended to use Billy Congo, and thought he was the sire of the resultant filly foal, but the DNA test proved that not to be the case and her full parentage remains a mystery.

Ballyneety Rocketman’s performance with Sam Watson is covered elsewhere on this page, but he wasn’t the only horse carrying the Limerick Hickey family’s prefix at Badminton. Ballyneety Silver Service (Butlers Cravat x Great Island Lady - Great Palm) produced one of the stand-out cross-country rounds early on Saturday, finishing full of running 11 seconds under the time allowed with Holly Richardson. Show jumping the following day didn’t go entirely to plan for the pair, but Richardson was optimistic in the mixed zone afterwards, saying she feels the 11-year-old gelding has the potential to improve a lot in his weaker phases.

Other notable performances from Irish-bred horses included those by both of David Doel’s rides, Midnight Rollercoaster and Ferro Point, each of whom completed with two down in the tough final phase. Royal Encounter, the Lancelot-sired ride of Brazil’s Marcio Carvalho Jorge, did a super dressage test to lie sixth on 29.2, but time penalties cross-country dropped him down the order to finish in 21st. Monbeg Darwin and Cooley Lafitte also finished inside the top 30 of the 60 starters, with Michael Jackson and Jesse Campbell respectively.