TYRONE’s Emily Turkington had a successful show at Gorla Minore in Italy over the weekend, the highlight being a win in the four-star Big Tour 1.50m speed class on Saturday riding the 11-year-old gelding Cornet (Cornet’s Prinz x Clarimo), owned by David Loughran.

There were 49 starters in the class, with 11 of them keeping all the poles intact. Time was of the essence and Turkington sped round the course in 65.06 seconds to claim the win, over a second and a half ahead of runner-up Barbara Schnieper on Toronto Raptor (66.65). Italy’s Piergiorgio Bucci took third place with Emeralds Dream (67.90). Afterwards, Turkington said: “I’m really happy with how the class went. The course was spot on, very well designed and I had a feeling I could win from the start. My horse jumped brilliantly and has been in great shape for the past months.”

Placings

Show jumping kicked off at the Equieffe Equestrian Centre last Thursday, when the 14-strong one-star 1.25m six-year-old class saw Turkington place fifth with General Tour Van’T Gelutt, jumping clear in 66.82. Turkington rode Vanilla into ninth in Friday’s four-star Small Tour 1.40m class from 61 starters, when they jumped clear in 69.03. Franck Goubard (SUI) on Neymar VD Bisschop set an unbeatable time of 63.12 to claim the top spot.

On Saturday, Turkington and General Tour Van’T Gelutt improved to fourth in the one-star 1.25m six-year-old class. And likewise, the Co Tyrone rider fared better in the day’s four-star Small Tour 1.40m class when seventh with Vanilla. She and General Tour Van’T Gelutt took another seventh place in Sunday’s one-star 1.25m six-year-old class, to conclude a great weekend.