MAYO’S Cormac Hanley has had a wonderful weekend at the World Equestrian Center in Ocala, Florida, recording wins and placings at two-star level, as well as winning Ocala’s inaugural 1.30m Young Jumper Championship, presented by Karlswood, on board the six-year-old KWPN stallion, Pavarotti van de Schutskooi. They had earned their place in Sunday’s final, which offered a prize fund of more than $30,000 across classes from 90cm up to 1.30m, by qualifying during the season.

Hanley and Pavarotti van de Schutskooi, owned by Heathman Farm LLC, were among six double clears in the class, but their time of 35.57 seconds over the track set by Leopoldo Palacios (VEN) proved unbeatable.

Hanley commented afterwards: “I thought it was quite technical for young horses. You had a few open lines and then some really technical questions. We had a few new materials that the young horses probably hadn’t seen yet, which is good because it challenges them and opens their eyes a little bit. It definitely challenged both horse and rider, but it rode well.”

Of the jump-off course, he said: “I know my horse isn’t the quickest mover, but he has a massive stride. My plan was really to use that stride. Everyone was doing nine or 10 strides to the orange fence, but I thought, ‘I’m going to do something special’. We ended up doing it in seven, and I was the only one to do eight strides home.”

Hanley was full of praise for his horse, saying: “This horse is really incredible. He’s only six years old, so he’s one of the few, maybe even the only six-year-old in this division. He won the Five-Year-Old Championship in Wellington, then the Six-Year-Old Championship, and now this. This was his first time indoors, so it’s really special.”

Notable results

Show jumping continued in Ocala, Florida last week (July 8th-12th) with four-star and two-star classes, alongside the inaugural Young Jumper Championships presented by Karlswood. There were some notable results for Irish riders.

Wednesday’s four-star $32,000 MARS Equestrian 1.45m speed class saw Declan Egan ride Goliath de l’Eldorado into ninth place, with a clear round in 77.39.

Hanley and Santiago VH Netehof took the top spot in Thursday’s two-star $32,000 Buckeye 1.45m speed class, when clear in a time of 59.77.

Egan and Goliath de l’Eldorado were back in the top 10 of the four-star $63,000 MARS Equestrian 1.45m Winning Round class, when they placed seventh with a double clear round in a second-round time of 45.03.

Podium topper

Hanley and Santiago VH Netehof were back on top of the podium in the two-star $32,000 Buckeye 1.45m Grand Prix qualifier, when they jumped double clear in a jump-off time of 30.60 - more than two seconds faster than runner-up Tracy Fenney (USA) on MTM Can Talk To Me (32.85).

Hanley’s form continued on Sunday, when he and Santiago VH Netehof placed eighth in the two-star $85,000 Buckeye 1.45m Grand Prix. The pair were among the eight to get into the jump-off, where they recorded the fastest time of 42.27, but it came at a cost when they picked up four faults.

The winning round came from Jad Dana (LBN) on Leonidas with a double clear in a time of 42.35.