KENNETH Graham may have narrowly missed out on the New Heights Champion Series line-up with George but made up for this by topping the bill in the opening round of the Showjumping Ireland National Grand Prix League.

The margins separating the top three proved exceptionally tight with all three combinations coming home within 39 seconds, but it was Graham who had the edge in Saturday’s €5,000 class at Louth County Show.

Some 51 combinations lined out over the Tom Holden-designed course. The time allowed played a big part in narrowing down the numbers with five combinations denied a place in the clocked round due to a single time penalty, but 13 successfully negotiated the course in the allotted time.

Alexander Butler (Hallowberry Cruz) and Sean Monaghan (Theoreme du Desir) withdrew from the jump-off, both competitors for Sunday’s NHCS Grand Prix, leaving 11 coming forward to the timed decider.

Graham, double handed in the jump-off, was already assured of a place in the line-up with the 10-year-old Limmerick-sired mare Lyrical having set the opening gambit of a clear round in a time of 39.69 seconds.

Coming forward at the latter stages of the clocked round with the Touchdown-sired 14-year-old George, Graham knew exactly where valuable fractions of a second could be found and managed to improve on his own score by over a second and a half when the clock showed 38.10.

Graham commented: “I was first to go with Lyrical, she finished fifth in the end but I knew then where I could gain some time and George is naturally very fast. I’m very happy with the result, it sets me up for Balmoral nicely and I’m looking forward to it.”

Graham will bring both horses to the upcoming CSI 2* show at Balmoral, running from May 10th – 13th.

Neal Fearon secured the runner-up position with Cohiba VDL, fault-free in a time of 38.44. A new mount to Fearon this season, the 11-year-old Chacco Blue-sired gelding is owned by Stateside Farms and was previously competed by American rider Jennifer Goddard up to 1.45m level. Fearon took up the reins at the beginning of this season, gelling with the horse over a tour in Oliva Nova in Valencia, Spain.

James Hogg proved just off this pace with Always On My Mind, coming home fractionally in arrears when the clock showed 38.67. Hogg has shown good form of late with the home-produced Ard VDL Douglas-sired gelding, winning the recent leg of the Connolly’s Red Mills Spring Tour at Mullingar EC.

The times drifted outside the 39-second mark for the lower half of the line-up with 39.29 guaranteeing Gemma Phelan fourth place. Phelan was partnered with Rory Costigan’s eight-year-old Luidam gelding Loughnavatta Indigo, the 2016 Seven-Year-Old Horse Sport Ireland ISH Studbook Showjumping Series league winner.

Matt Garrigan completed the top six as the only other double clear with MHS La Scala (Verdi – Cavalier Royale), recording a time of 41.68.

The National Grand Prix league now heads north to Portmore EC today for the first of a double bill this weekend with Thomastown Horse Show hosting the third leg on Sunday.