ROBYN Moran pulled out all the stops at the Grand Prix show in Killossery Lodge last Sunday providing an almost complete whitewash of all the classes on offer at the venue.
The 18-year-old Limerick University student dominated in the feature class, the TRM/Showjumpers Spring Tour Grand Prix taking first and third places, as well as winning both the 1.20m and 1.10m competitions.
Speaking after her impressive day, Moran told The Irish Field: “I’m absolutely over the moon with how the horses went. The Grand Prix proved to be a competitive class with 13 in the jump-off including a host of talented riders, but I had confidence in both of the horses I had qualified for the decider.
“I’ve been riding Coolminga Inspector Royal for four years now and have been delighted with his progress. He is by Tinaranas Inspector out of Coolminga Cavalier by Garrison Royal. He is very consistent, he won the Spring Tour Grand Prix in Broadmeadows a couple of weeks ago which is quite nearby so I think he might enjoy competing in this part of the country.
“He won the Mervue Leinster Grand Prix league in 2020 and in 2019 won the Munster Grand Prix league,” she said about James McMahon’s talented 11-year-old who has plenty of results to his name.
“I was fourth to go in the jump-off. I got to see Gerard Clarke go and he had posted a fast time so I knew I had to just go for it. I managed to leave out a stride between fences two and three and then again on the way to the last so I think that’s where I made up the time. He is in great form so I’m hoping we can continue to do well in the league.”
Moran was double handed in the jump-off and finished third with her second mount. “I finished in third place with my other horse, Vera Griffin’s seven-year-old gelding Cushlas Fryday (Hector Van D’Abdijhoeve - Apache D’Adriers). He has been in our yard since he was just four years old. We bought him at the Goresbridge Sales from Jason Higgins.
“My father (Brian Moran) rode him in the four-year-old class at the Dublin Horse Show that year and I rode him in the Discovery class in Millstreet as a five-year-old. We then sold him to his current owners but he remained with us here and Nicole Griffin competes him too. I think a lot of him. He has a calm and relaxed way of going and he finds jumping easy. I think he will go a lot further and has the potential to go to the top.
“I plan to go to the next couple of rounds of the league in Warrington and Tipperary so hopefully we can do well there.”
Competitive
A decent field of 47 combinations lined out over the Frank Glynn-designed 1.35m Grand Prix track. Of those, 13 produced a first-round clear to progress to the timed decider. Two collected a single time fault, 10 had one fence down, while three had five faults. The remaining 19 had eight or more faults.
Just five of the second round participants managed to keep a clean sheet. Moran proved fastest of these breaking the finish beam in a time of 36.39 to secure the win.
Gerard Clarke and Patrick and Clare Sutton’s Lupins Lux Z (Lux Z - Cruising) had set the standard with a time of 36.69 and that was eventually good enough for the runner-up spot.
Third place went to Moran and her second mount Cushlas Fryday in 39.39, while fourth was another seven-year-old, Micheal Condon’s mare Creevyquinn Pearl (Cardento - Corland) in 42.29. Stephen Murphy and Chantelle (Lux Z - Errigal Flight), owned by Brian Murphy, took fifth. Greg Broderick and Coolivio PS finished in sixth place as the fastest four-faulter in the jump-off (37.42).
Another win
Moran recorded her next victory in the 1.20m division which saw 57 go to post. A total of 22 managed to produce double clear rounds but it was Moran who proved fastest of them all stopping the clock at 29.37 to take the win by a margin of almost three seconds aboard her father’s 11-year-old gelding European Cruise (Cruising - Quel Hero De Muze).
Sven Hadley occupied second place riding Rachel Counihan’s Belgian-bred mare Elastique van de Koekoek in 32.10. Hadley also slotted into third place with Shona Lynch’s eight-year-old gelding Mallards Quality Boy (OBOS Quality - Diamond Serpent) in 34.12.
Mark Tracy and Heike Tracy’s mare Beech Hill Tayla Blue were fourth in 34.30 while Isabel Fitzpatrick took fifth and sixth place aboard SHW Candles Diamond and Drumagoland Cancun respectively.
The 1.10m competition result looked similar to the 1.20m class when Moran took first place ahead of Sven Hadley in second. Once again Moran was partnering European Cruise and Hadley was aboard Elastique van de Koekoek. Just over a second separated the pair, Moran crossing the finish at 25.15 while Hadley posted 26.55.
Paul Carberry took third place riding his own seven-year-old French-bred Eldin D’Addchaut in 48.10. Fourth were Paul Carroll and Kabran De Reve Z in 28.73 while fifth went to Orla Cassidy and her own six-year-old mare Whitetree Endeavour (Vancouver - Telling Tales).