DECLAN Egan may have missed out on the final of the Irish Breeders Classic with Deirdre Bourns’ CSF Mr Kroon but proved cream of the crop in the €5,000 Consolation.

Egan commented: “Obviously I was delighted to win the Consolation, it’s still fantastic prize money but I was disappointed not to make the final.

“We were very unlucky in the second qualifier, I backed him to jump a clear round for me but I had the second last fence down which meant then I was too slow to qualify.

“It was a soft rub and another day you would have got away with it, my luck just wasn’t in.”

Egan and CSF Mr Kroon missing off the list was an unfortunate turn of affairs as the pair finished second in the 2014 Irish Breeders Classic.

Undoubtedly Egan would have been keen to move one place up and to give Greg Broderick a run for his money but it wasn’t to be.

The Co Galway based rider however showed the class that saw him feature in last year’s final when a blistering turn of pace in Sunday morning’s two-phase Consolation saw him stop the clock at 24.50 seconds to clinch the win.

Egan said: “He jumped fantastic, with an absolutely unbelievable jump-off round. I was early to go in the six-year-old section and I decided to give it my all and put down a marker for the rest of them. I’m delighted it paid off.”

By Kroongraaf, CSF Mr Kroon is out of the dam Norrira sired by Cavalier Royale. A former Dublin four-year-old champion, the six-year-old gelding has been a consistent performer under Egan in the Irish Sporthorse Studbook Series over the past two seasons.

LANAKEN

Egan’s next big outing will be the World Breeding Championships in Lanaken with CHS Inception.

The seven-year-old Clover Flush-sired gelding made his Grand Prix debut at the weekend with Egan saying: “I’m delighted with how he handled the Grand Prix, he jumped very well and I’m looking forward to Lanaken.”

Ethen Ahearne ensured Broderick’s Ballypatrick Stables was well represented when taking the runner-up position with Glimmering. Coming home just fractionally slower, Ahearne logged a time of 24.63 with Noel Cawley’s Loughehoe Guy six-year-old gelding.

Michael Pender and Rainstown Majestic were the only combination from the five-year-old section to make the top six placings. Pender secured the yellow rosette when steering the Manhattan-sired mare around in just under 26 seconds.

Vincent Byrne guarantee yet another placing with Carneyhaugh Quantum across the line in 26.47 while drifting slightly wide of this time was Gemma Phelan and Loughnavatta Indigo, clear in 27.25.

Providing the cut-off point at 28.30 for the top six was Tholm Keane and the Ars Vivendi-sired Vivian Lee.