LIAM O’Meara won the fifth round of the Showjumping Ireland National Grand Prix at the Cavan Spring/Summer Championships last Sunday. Following on from wins in Thomastown in April and Barnadown just one week earlier, O’Meara rode Curraghgraigue Jack Take Flight to victory in the weekend’s feature event to make it three successive national league wins at this early stage.

Speaking to The Irish Field following the win, O’Meara said: “I’m delighted with the win. The horses are going really well. I decided not to do the Spring Tour shows this year and keep them fresh for the national league and it seems that that is working well.

“I have a few nice young horses for the horse board classes and they are also going really well so we are really happy with that.”

O’Meara continued: “I produced Jack Take Flight myself, my father bought him as a three-year-old so it’s nice when the ones you’ve brought all the way through are doing well at a high level.

“The plan now is to head to Galway this weekend and we have a trip away to the Hickstead Derby show in June where I hope to do the Speed Derby with him.”

A total of 27 starters lined out for the class, which had a prize fund of €4,000. Resident course designer Stuart Clarke’s first round track saw 19 combinations collect faults, leaving just eight to progress to the timed decider.

O’Meara was the pathfinder riding the first of the trio of horses he had qualified for the jump-off, Mr Coolcaum.

The pair won this class 12 months earlier at the venue and they once again left all the fences standing in a time of 42.71 seconds to set the standard.

This would leave them in eventual fourth place.

Next in, Kenneth Graham and Democrat began well but faulted at the fifth fence to finish on four faults. Heinrich Arnold and KMS Clintland were third in. They ran into trouble at the first part of the double and then collected a further four faults at the final fence to finish on a total of eight.

Clem McMahon and Jabab De Reve then produced an impressive clear round. A tight right-hand turn into the final fence after a deceptively fast round saw the pair break the finish beam in a time of 40.45, to head proceedings at the half-way stage, and finish in eventual second.

Martin Hynes and Galway Brigade made a decent effort leaving all the fences up in a time of 42.73 for eventual fifth place. O’Meara and his second mount, Lincourt Lux, also produced a fault-free round but in a slightly slower 49.61 to slot them into sixth place.

Rocky Bond ridden by Philip Gaw managed to navigate all the tight routes included in the track and stopped the clock at 41.75 to slot into third place overall.

Last to go was O’Meara and his third mount, his wife Helen’s Jacomar-sired gelding Curraghgraigue Jack Take Flight. They began well leaving out one stride between fences one and two.

A tight right-hand turn to the double at fence three was followed by an ongoing gallop to the fourth fence.

Without taking a pull the pair were straight away at fences five and six and a tight right-hand inside turn to the final fence saw them stop the clock with the fastest time of the class in 38.57, almost two seconds faster than their closest rival.

The next and sixth round of the National Grand Prix league takes place tomorrow (Sunday) at Galway Equestrian Centre.