JOSEPH Murphy was best of the Irish in the CCI4*-S at last week’s four-star Bramham International Horse Trials 2026 (June 10th to 14th), when he placed eighth with Calmaro.

There were three Irish riders in the top 20 of the CCI4*-S, with Murphy and Calmaro (Carpalano x Elster W), owned by Annette O’Callaghan and Alan Bell, the best of them. Murphy scored a respectable 32.4 in dressage, which put him in 19th place at that stage. He and his mount jumped clear in the show jumping, just picking up 0.4 time penalties. The pair also jumped well round the cross-country track, again just adding some time penalties (7.2) to bring their total to 40, which was good enough for eighth place.

Murphy told The Irish Field: “He [Calmaro] came out of Millstreet a couple of weeks ago very well after his four-star run there and, with Bramham holding such weight with selectors for championships, we decided to roll the dice and go there. He put up a great performance in all three phases; clear show jumping, very competitive dressage, and then as last to go across country and to finish eighth was a huge bonus and shows that he's back to Calmaro form again.

“It would be the toughest of the four stars I’d say. The undulation is very tricky, and they built a lot of big fences on the edge of hills and up and down hills, so it was very challenging. The plan now is to give him a bit of a break and give him another run in July and hopefully we have done enough to put his name in the hat for selection for the FEI World Championships in Aachen.”

The class was won by Tom McEwen (GBR) on JL Dublin on his final score of 29.6, followed by Samantha Lissington (NZL) on Ricker Ridge Sooty GNZ in second (30) and Sam Ecroyd (GBR) on Bloomfield Manuscript in third (33.7).

Susie Berry and Strangford placed 14th in the class on a score of 45, with Ian Cassells on Millridge Atlantis not far behind in 17th on 46.3.

Meanwhile, in the CCI4*-L, Aoife Clark had a super run with Full Monty de Lacense, owned by the Ace of Spades Syndicate, to finish fourth on their dressage score of 33.5. The class was a great reflection on Irish breeding, as Bubby Upton (GBR) and the 11-year-old Irish Sport Horse gelding Its Cooley Time [previously ESI Calypso] (Quality Time x Arabella by Heartbreaker), bred by Ennisnag Stud, took the win on 27.8, ahead of Selina Milnes (GBR) on another Irish Sport Horse, the 12-year-old gelding Cooley Snapchat [previously Primo Arkan] (Kannan x Anabee Arkansas by VDL Arkansas), bred by Alan Wheeler, in second (28.7) and Tiana Coudray (USA) on D’Artagnan in third (31.8).