Tara Dunne

LUXTAPOSE was ridden by Joyce Veld to victory in the Cavan Crystal Hotel five-year-old final at the Cavan Indoor Championships last Sunday afternoon.

By Lux and out of Coosan Lass (by Cruising), the gelding is owned by Miley Dunning. A consistent performer since the beginning of his competition career, Luxtapose first attracted attention when winning the four-year-old Irish Sport Horse Studbook final in Galway in June 2015.

Since then he has continued to impress with a win on day one of the Dublin Horse Show last year followed by third place on day two. As a five-year-old he performed well in Millstreet and in the ISH Studbook classes, winning in Tattersalls and Mullingar.

Veld and her husband Miley bought Luxtapose as a three-year-old and broke and produced him themselves.

“He deserved this win. He is a class act and has been knocking on the door for a while now,” she said after the win. “The three rounds suited him yesterday. He is very laidback and he just got better with every round. He is naturally very careful and, although he can be a little lazy sometimes, is quite easy to ride. He is a class act and we are delighted with the win and how he is progressing.”

WELL-DESERVED BREAK

She continued: “He will go out now for a couple of months for a well deserved break. He has done a good bit this year and I felt that by the end of yesterday he was telling me that he was ready for a break.

“Next year we plan to just keep going in the six-year-old division studbook classes and aim for Dublin once again and we will just wait and see. I would have high hopes for his future.”

Just 14 of the 36 starters made it into the second round over Klaus Holle’s track. Six of the 14 failed to keep a clean sheet in round two, which left eight going forward against the clock.

John Floody and Castleroche Rebel were pathfinders and lodged a decent round, collecting just four faults at the final fence, in a time of 38.24, to set the pace.

Next in was Neal Fearon and FTS Billy Stirling. This pair had one fence down in round one but lodged an appeal with the ground jury as they felt children running too close to the side of the arena had distracted the horse and caused the error.

Their appeal was upheld by the ground jury and they progressed. In the final round they performed well, having just a single mistake at the second last fence for four faults in 39.75 for eventual sixth place.

Michael Cave and Ardaragh Tim Tam were third in and an error at the second part of the double saw them finish on four faults in 47.44 to put them out of the placings.

Shane Goggins and the Dutch-bred Go To Fortuna (Eldorado Van De Zeshoek – Vancouver) then provided the first clear round, stopping the clock in 47.64 to head proceedings.

Liam Sharkey and Mr Boom Boom (Heritage Fortunas – Ramiro B) were going well and were clear until the final fence, where they collected four faults in a time of 44.25.

Brendan Ryan and Lakeview Captain Kannan upped the pace and were also going well until the penultimate oxer. They finished on four faults, in a time of 39.12, to take fifth place.

Veld had the advantageous position of being second last to go. She opted for a cautious clear round that was fast enough to capture the lead in 44.33.

Last in was young rider Shane Dalton riding Castlelawn Captain Junior. Their hopes of victory faded early on when they had they second fence down but they kept up the pace and finished in a fast time of 39.11 to secure fourth place.