An incredible performance from Adventure de Kannan, a horse who only last year had one of his eyes removed.

In what was one of the tightest finishes in the history of the event, Cashel-born Breen pipped last year’s winners, Phillip Miller and Caritiar Z, by just two hundredths of a second, after both riders finished the first round and ensuing jump-off with four faults apiece.

Breen’s only fault over the demanding Hickstead first round course came at the Devil’s Dyke, a fence where both Trevor and his older brother Shane, took a slightly different line to than the rest of the field.

Speaking this week to The Irish Field, the new Hickstead Derby Champion, who collected almost €50,000 in winning the Equestrian.com-sponsored class, explained why both Breen brothers took that particular route: “You don’t have as long to look at the dyke yourself and also the horse has less time to be distracted, every other year my horse jumped it really well but this year we missed the flying change and he cross cantered and that’s why we had it down. I knew Phillip was the only one on four faults so I tried to keep it at the four and hope for a jump off.”

Breen continued: “I know Philip and Caritar Z really well and I knew they would be fast in the jump-off, so I made my mind up to make sure I was fast enough even if I was risking having a fence down.”

“When I had the fence down early in the jump-off I remember thinking, God I have a long way to go here, with the Devil’s Dyke still to come. I didn’t really know how close I was to Phillip’s time but I thought I had done enough, I really took off up to the water and was quick around to the double.

“I knew Phillip’s time going in and when I went through the finish I saw my time and punched the air, but the crowd didn’t react for a second and the board didn’t put up number one, so for a split second I thought oh no, have I missed something here, did I get my time wrong. That few seconds seemed like an eternity and then finally the board showed number one and I knew I had won.

“We are all over the moon including Karen Swann, Addy’s owner in particular, he is a really special horse.”

Breen went on to explain that the operation to remove 14-year-old Adventure de Kannan’s eye last year, has had no real effect on his performance saying: “Because he had the eye condition for five years, his sight in that eye had deteriorated over the years so it didn’t really effect him much when the eye was removed, he had adjusted to it over a period.”

Trevor Breen also took fifth place with Loughnatousa WB, the Irish Sport Horse who Paul Beecher rode to victory in the 2012 Derby.

REMARKABLE

The Tipperary rider explained afterwards why Sunday’s performance from the son of Spring Elegance was particularly remarkable: “This was my first show with him and he was clear the first day in the 1.50m and clear again in the Derby trial. Then on Sunday he just didn’t feel the same, I was having to put a lot more leg on but because I didn’t know him that well, I thought that was just him.

“It was only after the Derby on the way to the stables, we noticed he had an abscess in his foot that burst just below the coronary band, so that was an incredible performance from him to finish with just a foot in the water and the dry ditch down.”

Three more Irish riders finished in the Derby top 10, with David Simpson taking seventh place with Richi Rich III on 12 faults. Simpson also finished on 13 faults with Hermoine IV, sharing ninth place with Captain Michael Kelly and Dollanstown, who collected the same score.

Simpson had earlier finished as best of the Irish in the Bunn Leisure Derby Trial, taking fifth place with Mary Barron’s Hermione IV, who was previously ridden in Ireland by Peter Smyth.

Richard Howley got Ireland’s Hickstead challenge off to the perfect start, with a win in Thursday’s opening competition, the Camardo Coffee Speed Derby Qualifier.

Riding Belinka Vh Overlede Goed, a former mount of Britain’s Guy Williams, Howley edged past fellow Irishman Shane Breen who finished second with Calido Boy.

DUFFY SHINES

Galway teenager Michael Duffy added to the Irish haul, landing the Stoner Jewellers Vase, 1.45m speed class with Shawna Carbin’s eight year-old gelding Torino.

Duffy finished ahead of Britain’s Simon Crippen and Atlanta VIII in second, while Shane Breen grabbed third place with Wembley Farms Calido Boy.

Speaking to The Irish Field this week, 19-year-old Duffy spoke about his latest international victory:

“It was a brilliant win for me at Hickstead which is like the English RDS, and particularly with the story behind this horse. He was bred by Ralph Conroy from Milchem Equestrian Centre in Loughrea and the girl who bought him, Shawna Carbin, lives just up the road from us in Co Galway.

“She bought him for herself to ride as a four-year-old and got me to ride him when he was five and I have had him ever since. He only jumped his first 1.35m almost exactly a year ago in the Connaught Grand Prix league and here he is now twelve months later winning an International class at Hickstead.

When asked about his recent move away from Shane Breen’s yard in Hickstead, Duffy said: “There is never an easy time to go out on your own but the new yard is at my girlfriend’s place and is in a great location about an hour from Dover, which is great for travelling to European shows and we are only about half an hour from London.”

Derry’s Daniel Coyle scored Ireland’s second win of the Derby meeting when lifting the 1.50m Tom Hudson Derby Trophy.

Coyle came out top of the pile after a 12-horse jump-off aboard the 10-year-old Guidam stallion Zuidam, with over a second in hand over British runner-up Jay Halim with Goodman For Fun II.

Cork’s Billy Twomey came home in third with Katrina Moore’s stallion Royale Du Rouet.

Kürten in top six

Jessica Kürten secured two top six finishes at the CSI*** show at Geesteren in The Netherlands. The Antrim-born rider guided the nine-year-old gelding Contadoor, who is by Carving out of a Democraat dam, to fourth place in Friday’s 1.45m speed class in which Gert Jan Brunnick and Cash Junior, took the top prize for the host nation. Kürten went on to take sixth place in Saturday’s Grand Prix qualifier with the 10-year-old Contender gelding Cool and Easy in a class won by Germany’s Denise Sulz with Flotte Deem.

Quidam’s Flower

CIAN O’Connor was also in action at the Dutch fixture and finished in eighth place in Friday’s 1.40m two-phase competition with the mare Quidam’s Flower, before finishing the show with a fifth place finish in Sunday’s 1.40m, again riding the nine year-old Quidam’s Flower. Victory went to reigning Olympic champion Steve Guerdat, who took the winners prize with Catalina CH.

In the CSI** classes at Geesteren, Co Antrim’s Conor Drain took ninth place in the 1.40m one-round speed class with the nine year old Dutch-bred Nassau gelding Wilcox B.

Moloney scores

AT the three-star show in Canteleu, Kilkenny’s Eddie Moloney recorded Ireland’s only top-10 finish at the French fixture, coming home in ninth place in Friday’s Prix Escoort 1.35m with the Harlequin-sired Irish Sport Horse mare, Pashmina K.

Irish Derby History

Trevor Breen becomes the seventh Irishman to win the world-famous Hickstead Derby, with several Irish riders winning the coveted trophy on more than one occasion.

Seamus Hayes won the very first Hickstead Derby in 1961 with Goodbye III. At the time Hickstead founder, the late Douglas Bunn, spoke about the Irishman’s win: “Seamus arrived the night before the first Derby, parked his lorry in a corner of the field and walked down to the ring where a number of riders were looking at fences. When somebody asked him what he was doing there he replied, “I’ve come to show you all how to jump the bloody bank”, the next day he did exactly that, jumping the only clear round of the competition.” Hayes returned three years later to win again in 1964 with the same horse.

Ireland had to wait a further eleven years for its next triumph, with the late Paul Darragh and Pele emerging victorious in 1975, before Eddie Macken went on to record an unprecedented four wins in a row from 1976 to 1979 with Boomerang, the horse whom the current Hickstead Derby trophy is named after. John Ledingham scored the first of three Derby wins in 1984. The Waterford rider’s first victory was aboard Gabhran, before he completed a double in 1984 and 1985 with Kilbaha.

Peter Charles was the next rider donning the green jacket to capture British show jumping’s biggest prize, scoring a hat-trick of wins from 2001 to 2003 with the grey mare Corrada, who just last year at the age of 22, gave birth to a colt foal by Murkas Pall Mall, the horse who Charles won Hickstead’s King George Cup in 2009.

Eight British victories in a row were to follow, before Tallow Co Waterford’s Paul Beecher made history by becoming the first rider to win the world’s toughest Derby when drawn as first to jump with Loughnatousa WB in 2012. Last Sunday’s win for Trevor Breen and Adventure De Kannan means Ireland has now won the Hickstead Derby on 15 separate occasions.