Tara Dunne

PEIG Van Amerongen’s promising show jumper Castlefield Denver had his career cut tragically short recently. The seven-year-old gelding suffered a heart attack after light work.

Van Amerongen commented: “It was a shock he wasn’t even in full work yet he had just come back to the yard after a hack.”

Denver was purchased as a four-year-old by Ger O’Neill and Bertram Allen for €75,000 at the Sale of the Rising Stars auction in Holland. By Quasimodo Z, the gelding was out of the Ulft-sired dam Gera.

Denver quickly realised his potential under Allen and earned his place on the auction’s Wall of Fame when taking a silver medal in the five-year-old divisions at the 2013 World Breeding Championships in Lanaken.

Van Amerongen bought Denver at the end of his five-year-old year and competed in 2014 at the one star shows in Villamoura and Lanaken as well as returning to the World Breeding Championships last September.

Van Amerongen’s horses are currently based with Neal Fearon as the young rider is still recovering from a broken leg suffered late last season.