TIPPERARY’S Kevin Babington got the 2017 Winter Equestrian Festival (WEF) off to the perfect start at the Palm Beach International Equestrian Centre (PBIEC) in Wellington, Florida, last Wednesday when winning the $8,000 Douglas Elliman 1.45m speed class with the Irish Sport Horse Super Chilled.

Just 13 combinations took on Olympic course designer Guilherme Jorge’s track for the first big class of the festival and six went clear in the first round.

Ireland’s Conor Swail, who has recently stepped away from Sue and Ariel Grange’s Lothlorien Farm to set up on his own, was first to go aboard Vanessa Mannix’s Quite Cassini and set the target with a clear in 62.36 seconds, which was eventually good enough for second place and an Irish one-two.

Babington took over the lead with the quickest time of the day in 59.97 seconds with the nine-year-old gelding by Gelvin Clover, who is out of Ballypatrick Codex and was bred by Cheryl Broderick at Ballypatrick Stables in Thurles, Co Tipperary.

Winner of the six-year-old championship at Dublin when ridden by Greg Broderick, Super Chilled was then sold to Babington’s owners Debra and Kirk Wycoff.

Babington has taken his time producing Super Chilled over the last few years and stepped up to the Grand Prix level at the end of the 2016 season.

Talking after his win, Babington said: “It is a good start to the season.

“It feels great, especially on that horse. He did really well as a seven and eight-year-old, so I am really excited for his nine-year-old year.

“He is really consistent, he doesn’t knock too many rails.”

Babington plans to compete Super Chilled in some three-star classes throughout the circuit and has his ultimate goal to move the gelding up to four-star competition by the end of the winter.

SUPER SWEET

Babington added: “On the ground he is a super sweet horse. He was quite head shy as a young horse. When you are on his back, he is very sensitive.

“You would never take your jacket off [when] on him, or if I have to adjust my spurs or anything, I have to have somebody hold him. He is very sharp.

“In the ring, he was always quite rideable.

“He was a little bit weaker on one side than the other, but now it is coming together and he is lovely to ride.”

Babington was fourth in the order of go and knew what he needed to do after watching the first few rounds before heading into the ring.

“I saw Conor go first, and he had a really smooth round, so I tried to do pretty much the same numbers,” the rider explained.

“I think I did one less back on the third jump and that was the plan. For the first day, I thought it was a nice speed track because there were lots of options.

“There were plenty of places you could leave out a stride right off the bat.

“He gave you three inside turns that were all very doable for the first day in the ring, and the horse handled it really well.”

Babington has over 30 horses in Wellington for the season, including four horses that he will show at the Grand Prix level and several nice young horses that he will ride himself.

In addition to Co Meath’s Katie Nolan, young rider Oliver McCarthy will be riding for Babington this winter, taking on the rides of some sale horses and helping with client mounts to give Babington more time for training his students.

McCarthy previously worked for McLain Ward and is the younger cousin of Greg Broderick, for whom he rode successfully in Ireland before embarking on a riding career in America.

“I have a great group of horses for myself this year, and we have a really good group of clients and an excellent staff here, so I’m excited about the circuit. We will be busy,” Babington concluded.

COYLE WIN

Daniel Coyle also got off to a winning start on Wednesday in section B in the $6,000 Illustrated Properties 1.40 speed class aboard Sue and Ariel Grange’s Cita.

Coyle, who took over the top riding job at Lothlorien Farm after Conor Swail departed, enjoyed incredible success in 2016 and is starting the new year with a large team of horses.

Co Clare show jumper Kevin Mealiff placed third in the $6,000 1.40m class with Casquino (0/4 42.39).

The class was won by America’s Laura Chapot and the Irish Sport Horse ISHD Dual Star (0/0 39.59).