MULVIN Lights Out and Jonathan Smyth had the perfect start to their summer season when they won the hotly-contested 1.40m Premier Performance National Grand Prix worth €4,000 at The Meadows last Sunday.

Owned by Noletta Smyth and Roy Craig, the 13-year-old gelding is by Kroongraaf out of Diamond Vicky, by Diamond Serpent.

Smyth and the gelding are no strangers to the winner’s enclosure having been named National Grand Prix Champions in 2022 and 2023 after numerous wins and placings in the league.

Speaking after the victory, Smyth told The Irish Field: “It was a great start. The horse is feeling good and I feel good again, so it was good to get going with a win.

“I broke my femur in June last year and I’m only really getting back started again properly now.

“I had to have a couple of surgeries and a lot of rehab and it took a good while to get back to normal again.

“I was just riding a young horse at home and he came back on top of me. It was a freak thing. I was riding a bit last year, in November and December, but I wasn’t really back fully, I was still in a bit of pain. But, thankfully, I’m back to full health now.

“Lights Out is 13 now, he’s been around the block but he feels great. He is probably one of the soundest horses I’ve ever had. He has never been lame a day in his life.

“It was a large jump-off. It was a difficult enough first round but there was a good standard of horses in it. I think there were 15 clears and we were first to go in the jump-off.

“I tried to put a bit of pressure on the guys that were coming after me and thankfully it paid off.

“The jump-off course really suited my horse. There was a big run between fence one and two and then a turn back to a double of verticals. He is probably the only horse that I have ever ridden that you don’t have to take a pull coming to a double of verticals, he just knows where the top rail is and can be clever about it.

“My plan is to do Barnadown in a couple of weeks time. I’ll continue to do the National Grand Prix league with Lights Out. He is a real winner at that height and is very comfortable there.”

Travel

“I hope to go to Bolesworth for the two weeks in July. I had a good show there two years ago, so that’s the plan.

“I have two nice home-bred youngsters, the six-year-old Mulvin Ganesh Melanie (Ganesh Hero Z x Ard VDL Douglas) and the five-year-old Mulvin Make Me A Winner (Ganesh Hero Z x HHS Br Charlton), which I am looking forward to competing.

“Hopefully we can qualify them for some of the young horse championships this year.”

This was the second round of the 19-strong 2025 league and attracted a large start list of 46 combinations.

Of these, some 15 left all the poles in place in round one to progress to the timed decider.

Smyth was first to go with Mulvin Lights Out and set the pace with a superb clear in a very fast time of 32.85.

Catherine Thornton came closest to catching aboard David Campbell’s Derryinver Truffle (Tornesch x Cruising), they stopped the clock at 34.69 as seventh to go.

Dermott Lennon and the eight-year-old Kinmar Right On Time (Aganix Di Seigneur x UNK), bred by Gerrard Marron, took third place in 34.88.

Fourth went to Joshua James Lynch riding Carrickanee Sporthorses Ltd’s Belgian-bred Otis Van Het Weyenshof (Kannan x Cabochon) in 36.04, while Ellie Humphries and Allison Mercer’s Dutch-bred Jalandra were fifth in 37.93.

Eve Donnelly completed the line-up in sixth place riding Francis Donnelly’s Crystal Tom (Silvano x Graf Magna).

The next and third round of the Premier Performance National Grand Prix league takes place on Monday, May 5th in Galway Equestrian Centre.