Another National Champion title for Connors

FRANCIS Connors’ third-place finish in the New Heights Champions Series final was enough to give him the points he needed to head the series table and earn the Waterford rider the National Champion title for 2019.

A remarkable six placings and one outright win aboard Hugh Fitzpatrick’s 12-year-old Erne Ladygoldilocks (Ard VDL Douglas – Erne Touch) saw Connors accumulate a series-winning score of 40 points heading into the final.

Adding another third place and a further seven points here saw him finish on 47 points, 12 ahead of runner-up Tholm Keane on 35.

Speaking after the presentation, Connors said: “I’m delighted because the mare, she has been fantastic all year and to lose it today would have been awful.

“It was a testing track, it caught out a lot of people. The mare (Erne Ladygoldilocks) has been brilliant all through the series so she deserved this. I wasn’t really concerned about the size of the fences, the time allowed would have been more my bogey really. I tried for a clear round and didn’t worry too much about the clock and we were unlucky to have one fence down.

“I have been riding horses for Hugh [Fitzpatrick] for many years now and have had Goldilocks since she was five. She hasn’t actually won many classes during her career because she wouldn’t be the fastest, but she has jumped an unbelievable amount of clear rounds.”

Fitzpatrick, the delighted owner and breeder, who earned €2,500 from the league win, added: “She was great. She made nothing of the fences and Francis gave her a fantastic ride as always. We have her grandam, in fact we have all three generations of her family – we currently have an embryo transfer from her that was born in July.

“The foal is lovely, the image of her. I’d like to breed more from her, we’ll have to consult with Francis and see where we go from here. I’m delighted with the win today. We’ve had a lot of good days with her so we couldn’t be happier.”

Young Galway rider, Tim MacDonagh, finished third overall in the league with 33 points aboard Hollypark Galloway.