Plaudits aplenty
RIDERS ran out of superlatives to describe the inaugural four-star Liverpool Horse Show. Nina Barbour and her team certainly spared no effort or expense to make sure the show ticked every box and many of the riders competing at this first running were understandably keen to book a return visit next year. Grand Prix winner Billy Twomey commented: “The organisers of this show deserve a serious amount of credit. The arena has been nearly full every day. To get a show kicked off in the first year and have big crowds is really impressive.”
Live stream
VIEWING figures for Liverpool Horse Show free-to-view live stream and social media coverage exceeded all expectations. The event saw 85,000 playbacks across three days, with more than 500,000 minutes watched and over 500,000 people reached on social media platforms.
Batman flying
THE fancy dress mini-major class at Liverpool International saw riders take to the arena with some fantastic costumes. Denis Lynch (Batman), Shane Breen (Spiderman), Anthony Condon (He-man) and Dermott Lennon, dressed as Bananaman, were just some to the characters that Irish riders were seen as, in a hugely entertaining competition for the watching audience.
Knockout
THE Artorius Wealth knockout class at Liverpool proved a huge hit with spectators at the Echo Arena. Riders battled against each other over an identical course on each side of the arena and the final showdown produced a thrilling race between Britain’s Chloe Aston and rising Belgian star Constant Van Paesschen, with Aston coming out on top aboard Amigo T.
In the opening round, Shane Breen won the ‘battle of Tipperary’, just shading a tight contest against Denis Lynch.
Duffy placed
GALWAY’s Michael Duffy was among the prize-winners in the under 25 Grand Prix at Liverpool last Sunday. Duffy partnered the Irish Sport Horse Castleforbes Rosie to seventh place in the 1.45m contest. Britain’s Pippa Allen took the winner’s cheque with Hope Springs, while her sister Millie finished as runner-up with Balou Star.
Hughes victory
KILKENNY’S Marion Hughes was in action at the Sharjah two-star show in the United Arab Emirates last weekend. She scored a win last Saturday in a 1.30m class with the Irish Sport Horse, Heritage HHS Fortuna. Fellow Irish rider Jack O’Donohue came home in third place with Cit Kat.
Hughes also finished as runner-up in the Grand Prix at the same venue with the nine-year-old gelding Laith, while O’Donoghue added a sixth place finish in a 1.40m jump-off class to his collection with Le Roi 10.
McAuley fifth
IRISH endurance young rider Ellen McAuley had a successful trip to the two-star show at Boutheib in the United Arab Emirates last weekend. She finished fifth in the 120km race when riding Cold Steps for Team Emaar Stables in Dubai, posting an average speed 20.62 kph.