IRISH riders dominated the €25,000 The Bunn Leisure Trial Derby for the Ben O’Meara Memorial Trophy last week with David Simpson capturing the win in a hard-fought competition that yielded only four clears from 62 combinations.

Simpson and the 10-year-old Belgian gelding Gotti Van Paemel (Cicero Z x Calido I) took a well deserved win, the only combination to post a double clear, finishing in 75.91 seconds.

“He’s not fast, but he’s really careful,” explained Simpson. “I decided if the lads went clear, I’d jump a few fences and pull him up and give him a pat, because I knew I’d come third and then I could save him for the Derby. But when they had fences down, I knew I could jump a clear round.”

Britain’s William Funnell was second on the 10-year-old Anglo European-bred gelding Billy Onslow (Billy Congo x Iroko) with four faults on the board in a time of 64.30.

Fastest in the class with a time of 59.59, but with eight faults, was Tipperary’s Shane Breen with the 10-year-old Belgian gelding Acoustik Solo do Baloubet (Baloubet du Rouet x Ksar Sitte), good enough for third place. Breen was also fourth with the Anglo European-bred 11-year-old gelding Millfield Ultymate (Ulyssess M2S x Condios). They jumped clear but didn’t take part in the jump-off, finishing second in the Bunn Leisure Masters Challenge riding Tango D’Ecry.

Britain’s Guy Williams was fifth with the 16-year-old Dutch gelding Titus (Lancelot x Rex Magna), with an unfortunate time fault from round one that preventing them from taking part in the jump-off.