KILKENNY’s Adam Carey claimed victory in the feature 1.25m Pony Grand Prix at Sentower Park youth festival in Belgium last Sunday to top a fantastic week for Irish pony riders at the international show. Riding the 18-year-old Hanovarian mare Stakkati, Carey was the fastest double clear in 28.86 seconds.
Some 16 combinations made it through to the jump-off at the Belgian venue, and five of those managed to jump clear second time out. Carey had a second to spare over Britain’s Jodie Hall McAteer with Tixlix (0/0 31.12) and Laura Baaring Kjaergaard of Denmark in third aboard Tonlyn Bobbys Girl (0/0 31.19).
Seamus Hughes-Kennedy finished in fourth place with the Irish Sport Horse Cuffesgrange Cavalidam with a time of 35.68 seconds, while Oisin Aylward was back in 10th, faulting once against the clock with Coppenagh Oliver Twist (0/4 36.13).
Earlier this year Carey represented Ireland at the Pony European Championships in Vilhelmsborg, Denmark, aboard Stakkati, and the pair won the 148cm/1.30m at the Pony and Young Rider Championships in Mullingar.
The 16-year-old, who is also qualified to ride for Sweden, represented his mother’s home country at the 2015 European Pony Championships in Malmo before deciding to ride for Ireland in 2016.
NATIONS CUP
The Irish pony team of Harry Allen (The Little Squire), Charlotte Huston (Sweet Whispers), Sean Monaghan (Ballyowen Maybell Molly) and Max Wachman (Blessington Grange Mist) landed a superb win in the Nations Cup last Friday evening.
Allen and Wachman both jumped double clear to help the team finish with a total of just one time penalty after round one, equal with the two Danish teams, Belgium and the second Irish team.
Sean Monaghan, on the veteran Ballyowen Maybell Molly, secured victory in the jump-off with a clear round in 29.43 seconds.
The second Irish team of Abigal Boland (Another Destiny), Oisin Aylward (Coppenagh Oliver Twist), Seamus Hughes-Kennedy (Cuffesgrange Cavalidam), and Robbie Clancy (For Kids Only Robbie Clancy) were in fifth place with four faults in against the clock.
As well as being a winning member of the Nations Cup team, Max Wachman racked up two wins of his own with his mother Kate’s 15-year-old mare Diamond.
The first of the double came in Friday’s Table A 1.15m speed class where Wachman was the fastest of 12 clear rounds, by almost two seconds, to secure the win ahead of Dutch rider Skye Morssinkhof with Unbelievable. Robbie Clancy slotted into third aboard My Castlehill Lass, while Seamus Hughes-Kennedy guided the six-year-old ISH mare Keatingstown Hunky Dory to fifth.
Remarkably, the line-up in Sunday’s 1.15m final was almost identical. Twelve-year-old Wachman again took the top spot on the podium with Diamond, with Skye Morssinkhof in second and Robbie Clancy completing the podium with My Castlehill Lass. Seamus Hughes-Kennedy occupied sixth and ninth place with Sg’s Miss California and Keatingstown Hunky Dory.
Wachman was the runner up in the 1.25m speed class with Blessington Grange Mist, pipped by less than half a second by Jodie Hall McAteer. Oisin Aylward and Harry Allen also featured in the top 10 in eighth and 10th place respectively.
Meanwhile in the under 25 division, Kilkenny’s Anna Carway featured in Saturday’s 1.45m Ashford Farm Grand Prix with Claricella. Carway guided the extravagant eight-year-old grey mare by Clarimo to a double clear round in 40.48 seconds to finish in sixth place behind home rider Leonie Peeters and Sunny Girl (0/0 37.92).
Earlier in the week, the 19-year-old rode her own Ajaccio to fifth in the 1.45m at the two-star show. The 11-year-old gelding was clear in 59.94 seconds behind British winner Jack Whittaker and Street Hassle (57.92).