IRISH riders had a fantastic show at the five-star Spruce Meadows fixture in Canada, with numerous wins and podium places, including three all-Irish podiums across the four days of competition. The first of these was in Friday’s 29-strong 1.50m jump-off class, which saw Derry’s Daniel Coyle on Legacy take the top spot in a jump-off time of 40.28, with Offaly’s Darragh Kenny on Eddy Blue in second (41.10) and Galway’s David O’Brien on El Balou OLD a close third (41.38).

The five-star ‘Continental’ show at Spruce Meadows ran from June 5th to 8th and saw Ireland’s Tom Holden among the course builders; there were some impressive Irish results.

The opening day saw a podium finish for Kenny in the 1.40m one-round class, when he rode Mendoza VDL into third place of 30 starters in a time of 73.91. The first division of the day’s 1.30m one-round class saw James Chawke place third and fifth with Querido van het Geinsteinde and Phaedra D’Or respectively. In the second division of the class, O’Brien placed seventh with Birkegaardens Malibu DWB. Meanwhile, Derry’s Jordan Coyle claimed a top 10 finish with King Kannan GP when 10th in the 1.45m one-round class.

Incredible win

Daniel then proceeded to also win Friday’s 1.50m-1.55m jump-off class riding Incredible to secure the fastest clear jump-off round in 38.66, with his brother Jordan placing fourth with For Gold (39.38) and Down’s Conor Swail on the 12-year-old gelding Casturano finishing in 10th place from a start list of 31. Daniel placed equal 10th of 52 starters in the day’s 1.30m jump-off class with Daydream.

On Saturday, Kenny was runner-up in the 1.40m jump-off class with Mendoza VDL from a start list of 47. Kenny’s jump-off time of 43.16 was just off the pace of American winner Grace Defoe riding HH Medarco PS (42.40).

There was another all-Irish podium in the day’s 27-strong 1.45m jump-off class, which was won by Swail on One Edition (41.73), with Kenny claiming both second and third places with Lightning (41.87) and Diaroubet (42.38) respectively. Antrim’s Arielle Allen placed fifth in the 1.30m jump-off class on board Kandice Z.

Sunday produced yet another all-Irish line up, this time in the 1.45-1.50m speed class. Kenny rode Lightning into first place, followed by Jordan Coyle on For Gold in second and Swail on One Edition in third. Jordan also placed fifth in the class with King Kannan GP, while Kenny also took 10th place with Zero K.

Swail had another podium finish in the 1.60m Rolex Grand Prix when he placed third of the 25 starters with Casturano in a jump-off time of 43.90, only 0.28 seconds behind Canadian winner Mario Deslauriers on S&L Quatro van de Meerputhoeve (43.62), while Kenny secured another runner-up position in the 1.40m jump-off class with Mendoza VDL (37.63).