IRISH riders once again made their presence felt on the opening day of the famous four-star show at Hickstead in England, Richard Howley winning two speed classes on Thursday and Shane Breen taking second place in the day’s feature class.

Tipperary-born Breen and his bay gelding Farao Van’t Vennehof were one of 20 combinations to register a clear first round and in the ensuing jump-off, the duo also came home with a zero penalty score. However they were just over a third of a second slower than British winner Guy Williams with the grey Depardieu Van’t Kiezelhof.

Earlier, Richard Howley opened the batting for Ireland at Hickstead with two wins.

The Speed Derby Qualifier, the first class of the day, saw him romp home in both first and second places, winning with HK Horses’s mare Belinka and taking second place with Laura Irving’s gelding Chinook.

David Simpson confirmed Ireland’s dominance of the competition with a third place on Caroline Jeanne’s Baby David, while for good measure Daniel Coyle also took sixth place on Neill McCluskey’s Loughern Built To Last.

Howley returned later in the day with a win in the feature 1.45m speed class aboard HK Horses’s gelding Verlindo, while Michael Duffy and Shelley Redbart’s mare Miss Untouchable placed second. Ger Clarke and the Irish Sport Horse Rafiki, which he owns jointly with Pat and Clare Sutton, came home in sixth place.

Dermott Lennon (Valent) and Billy Twomey (Diaghilev) were seventh and eight respectively.

The world famous Hickstead Derby takes place at the West Sussex venue on Sunday afternoon, when Trevor Breen will be hoping to defend his title with Karen Swann’s one-eyed Adventure De Kannan. Meanwhile US-based Irish man Shane Sweetnam took third place in Thursday night’s 1.50m Cargill Cup at the four-star show in Spruce Meadows, Canada, with Chaqui Z.

DRESSAGE

Irish pony rider Tara Hayes scored another irish win at the Hickstead Dressage Masters when winning the preliminary championship with Bantis Holy Joe on a score on 70.96% on Tuesday.

A member of the Irish pony development squad, Hayes is having an outstanding season, having won both the under 25 championship and the novice category one championship at the 2015 Dressage Ireland National Winter Finals.

A full round-up of show jumping and dressage action at Hickstead will be carried in next week’s issue.