SUNDAY saw Meath’s Alexander Butler and Kings Queen Jt Z score their second win of the weekend in the 70-strong three-star 1.45m championship at Drammen in Norway. The pair jumped double clear in a jump-off time of 40.09 to secure the win from nearest challenger, Felix Jarry (FRA) on Elgaura (40.36). Another Irish man, Sean Monaghan rode Toyger into eighth place when double clear in 42.30.

The three-star Longines EEF Series 1.50m Nations Cup was held at Drammen on Saturday, with Ireland among the 13 teams taking part.

The Irish team of Butler with Espoir d’Esbart, Clare’s Eoin McMahon with Budweiser, Cork’s Jeremy Sweetnam with Chapeau and Waterford’s Anthony Condon with Oviedo ‘S’ were drawn second to jump and put in a pleasing performance under the guidance of Taylor Vard.

Butler incurred eight faults in round one, but jumped clear in round two, while McMahon was clear in the first round and picked up just four faults in the second. Sweetnam’s 12 and eight faults were the discard scores in each round, while Condon jumped an immaculate double clear to ensure Ireland stayed in touch, completing on a two-round total of 12 faults to finish fourth. Belgium came out on top after a jump-off with hosts Norway, who placed second, followed by the Netherlands in third.

Placings

Three days of international show jumping were hosted at Drammen last Friday, Saturday and Sunday, with Butler riding Bombastic des Sequoias Z into sixth place in Friday’s 80-strong three-star Gold Medium Tour 1.40m class, with a double clear in 35.55.

The Meath man then won the three-star Gold Big Tour 1.45m class with Kings Queen Jt Z from a start list of 58. Butler’s clear round in 66.91 was just a fraction ahead of Polish runner-up Marek Lewicki on Quaid Casio, who finished in 66.92!

Saturday’s one-star Young Horse 1.05/1.15m class of 30 saw Condon taking ninth place on board High Offley The Colour of Money, when double clear in 35.00.

To conclude the show, Condon secured another top 10 finish, when he rode High Offley The Colour of Money into seventh place in Sunday’s one-star Young Horse Final five and six-year-old 1.10/1.20m class, with a double clear in 47.92. The winning time of 42.15 was clocked by Norway’s Benedikte Serigstad Endresen on Obarla T.