Tara Dunne

JOHN Floody secured the win in first leg of the Gain/Alltech Autumn Grand Prix league at Ravensdale Lodge EC last weekend.

Floody and the seven-year-old gelding Shenick made an impressive Grand Prix debut when triumphing in the €3,000 MSL Mercedes Benz-sponsored class. First to go in the clocked round, Floody’s opening gambit of a fault-free round in a time of 37.18 seconds would prove unbeatable at the day’s end.

Owned and bred by Joanne Attley, Shenick is by Lux Z out of the Saracen Hill-sired dam Sesario. Attley, who was on hand to see the result said: “I’m delighted, on his day he is really hard to beat.”

The partnership is well established, with Floody riding Shenick for almost the entirety of his career. This season has seen a continuation of the success the pair have enjoyed in the past, including a win in the seven and eight-year-old RDS qualifier at Galway EC, second place in the Boomerang qualifier in Millstreet and second overall in the seven-year-old section of the Irish Sport Horse Studbook Series.

Although qualified for the World Breeding Championships at Lanaken with both Shenick and Mise Le Meas after their results throughout the league, Floody and the owners decided not to travel to Belgium and to aim instead for the upcoming six and seven-year-old Cavan Classic.

Floody explained: “We decided to see how he got on in this before we head to Cavan and he really lived up to the expectations. It’s a great result. He is a deceptively fast horse. He has a big stride and he covers the ground.”

Ray Buchanan designed the course for the starting 30 and clever course building ensured the numbers were well down for the jump-off, with only six combinations returning. Fences fell at nearly every point in the track but the three doubles consistently caught out riders, as did the final fence which accounted for more than one of the 13 combinations leaving on four faults.

Next fastest after Floody on the day was Daniel Coyle with John Carr’s Zuidam. The fourth rider in the jump-off, Coyle looked set to threaten with the Guidam stallion but finished fractions in arrears when posting a time of 37.94.

Coyle took over the ride on Zuidam at the start of the season and the 10-year-old has proven to be a useful addition to Coyle’s Derry yard. Notching up both national and international results, the pair pulled off a double victory at South County Dublin when winning both the National and Premier Series Grand Prix on the same weekend. Earlier in the year, the pair won the Tom Hudson Derby Trophy against a strong field in the CSI**** fixture at Hickstead.

Sophie Dalm ensured young riders were well represented at Ravensdale by taking third place in the line-up. The penultimate rider in the timed decider with the 12-year-old Heartbreaker-sired Vaillant S, Dalm logged a clear round in 38.60.

Edward Doyle was the final rider to contest the jump-off but was never a danger with Mullaghdrin Touch The Stars coming home over four seconds behind the leading time. However Doyle and the nine-year-old Touchdown stallion left the arena with a clean sheet and their time of 42.16 was good enough for eventual fourth place.

Catriona Fallon was the only other rider to record a double clear round in the Grand Prix. Drawn early, Fallon aimed for a steady clear which she duly delivered with the Luidam-sired Nivitas Charge K, taking the longer route home and stopping the clock at 48.29.

Taking the final place in the line-up was Kellie Allen with San Luca on a total of four faults in a time of 47.97. The eight-year-old Hanoverian gelding is a recent import and was previously competed in the young horse divisions by Swiss rider Arthur Da Silva.

Meanwhile Kate Murphy took the honours in the 1.20m with Tullibards Petite Bonnie, logging a time of 37.03 in the second phase with the eight-year-old bay mare. Daniel Coyle got his day off to a good start when taking the blue rosette aboard Eamon Bishop’s Dundalk Lass, completing in a time of 37.30.

Coyle managed to go one better in the 1.30m with the eight-year-old Guidam-sired mare when crossing the line in 38.85, nearly a second clear of his nearest rival Conor McEneaney with the Cavalier Royale stallion Moonlite Cavalier.