GREG BRODERICK made it two in row when he won the second round of the New Heights Series in Portmore last Sunday. Riding Ellen Mary De Ruschi’s 10-year-old Dutch-bred gelding Duco by Vigaro out of Upperlaine by Calvados, Broderick produced the only double clear round of the day to secure his second New Heights win in as many weeks.

“We have him (Duco) for quite a while now but he had a couple of little niggly bumps along the way but he’s in top form now. In the Sunshine tour he did a couple of ranking classes but I was very low-key with him just tipping away and schooling. Last week in the Meadows he did his first 1.50m and we won and he just done back to back here today.

“I’m really delighted with how he feels. I felt him a better horse last week than he did in Spain; he felt stronger, it was a trappy enough course; not right up a horse like Duco street because he has a very big stride and massive scope so he’s on his back-end the whole way round but he coped very well with it. To be honest I couldn’t be happier with him; he’s just getting better and better.

“I’ve been here (Portmore) for three days now and the conditions are very good and the ground is very well maintained. I’ve had some of my students from America with me and they’ve done very well.

“I thought the Grand Prix big enough today and it was very technical, but as I’ve said the ground was very good and that’s a huge help.

“I plan to be between here and other European shows over the next couple of months. We’ll head to Valkenwaard in Holland for a couple of weeks and come home in between to do Balmoral. I’ll be here for Mullingar and then we head to Bolesworth. We will go to Belgium for the first half of July and then come back for Tattersalls and then all going well we’ll do Dublin and Millstreet.

Eight of the 30 starters made it through to the timed decider with only Broderick starting out with a score of zero from round one.

First to go was Tholm Keane and BMH Big Time. They corrected their mistake from round one and came home clear in a time of 40.17 for third place.

Next in was Ciaran Nallon and Arkino Z, they too managed to return a fault-free second round to finish on a total score of four in 41.05.

The Army Equitation School’s Commandant Geoff Curran and Hallowberry Cruz were third to go they faulted at the second part of the double to add a further four faults to their first round score of four to finish on eight and out of the running.

Jake Hunter and the first of his two mounts for the jump-off Indian River Van Perschvoeven fell fowl of the same fence as Curran having the second part of the double down for an eight fault total.

Having earned four faults in round one Nicholas Butler was already on the back foot when he entered the ring aboard Vimminka; they produced a foot-perfect second round in the fastest time of the day 36.70 to put the pressure on the next to go Greg Broderick.

The pair began well and a tight turn into fence three as well as an ongoing four strides from fence five to six proved that they weren’t going to hang around and depend on a second round clear to capture the win; they stopped the clock at a respectable 39.83 but, more importantly, left all the fences intact to guarantee them the victory and see Butler take the runner-up spot.

Jake Hunter and his second mount, Conto Blue, had the first fence down to finish on four faults in 40.17 exactly the same time as Tholm Keane, so the pair divided third place in the final line-up. Hunter was also named the Leading Young rider of the class and received a €100 TRI voucher.

Last to go was Commandant Curran on his second mount, Shannondale Rahona. They faulted at the first part of the double for a total score of eight and for eighth place overall.

SMITH WINS

The previous day’s 1.40m National Grand Prix was won by Jonathan Smith riding Mulvin Lui. The pair produced a double clear round with a jump-off time of 45.88 to secure the win.

Second place went to Liam O’Meara and Russel Style after they recorded a jump-off time of 46.54.

Just as he did in the New Heights class young Ciaran Nallon took third place this time partnering Zaronda 11.

Fourth place went to Declan McEvoy and BLM Cosmopolitan Dandy while Neal Fearon and GoodluckVDL were fifth. Sixth place went to the last of the double clears Max O’Reilly Hyland riding Ahmed Du Calvaire.

The next round of the National Grand Prix league takes place in Thomastown on May 6th, while the next New Heights competition takes place in Ballinasloe on May 28th.