Tara Dunne

SHANE Dalton took the honours in the €1,200 Botanica All Ireland Speed Championship at Cavan with Kashino.

Second into the ring, Dalton showcased the shortest route home but not one of the 80 competitors could come close to his time of 43.70 seconds.

Owned and bred by Jackie Lee, the Cassino-sired Kashino is out of Captain Pride, by Captain Clover. The six-year-old mare has an impressive resume to date, winning the six-year-old Horse Sport Ireland ISH Studbook Showjumping Series finale, as well as qualifying for Dublin and the Boomerang final in Millstreet.

Dalton has had a successful season all round, also winning the Connaught Sunshine Windows and Doors 1.35m Grand Prix league and the five-year-old ISH Showjumping Series League with Castlelawn Captain Junior, before going on to finish as a runner-up in the five-year-old consolation class at the World Breeding Championships at Lanaken.

Visiting British rider Carla Bolam proved next fastest on the day with her own Capriool III. Coming at the end of the class, Bolam made a decent attempt at the time, on board the nine-year-old KWPN gelding, but fell short of the mark when the clock stopped at 45.33.

FRACTIONS

Bolam relegated Gerard Clarke to third position in the line-up by mere fractions. Clarke had come home in 45.36 with the 12-year-old Ekstein-sired Ardragh Stein.

Young rider Ciaran Nallon came home in the middle of the pack with a solid round aboard Judy Murphy’s seven-year-old German-bred mare Candis in a time of 45.53.

The times remained tight, with 46 seconds providing the cut-off point for the top six. Joanne Blair was separated from Nallon by the smallest of margins, with only one hundredth of a second accounting for the difference between fourth and fifth place. Blair was paired with the nine-year-old Amigo Vh Winkenshof Z.

Completing the top six were Madeline Roberts Allen and Hi Dude, breaking the beams in 45.41. A new ride to Allen, the eight-year-old Jacomar-sired gelding was competed by John Floody up until last month.