Róisín Sheridan

IRELAND’s Shane Breen and the Irish-bred Cisero divided first place in Saturday evening’s Puissance class with fellow Irish rider Jack O’Donohue (Acorad 3).

Sixteen riders from five nations lined out for the Land Rover-sponsored class, which offered a €30,000 prize fund.

Canada’s Vanessa Mannix, a regular on the Irish National circuit and who is trained by Conor Swail, was forced to withdraw from the event after her mount Quite Cassini had to undergo colic surgery from which he is recovering well.

Two riders, Anthony O’Regan (Velvet Blackjack) and Wesley Ryan (Larthago), failed to progress past round one after they collected four faults apiece.

Just one rider, Shane Dalton (The Captains Touch), was knocked out in round two, with 13 progressing to round three where the wall stood at 2.5 metres.

Five combinations collected faults in round three and one, Billy Twomey, chose to retire with Lizziemary.

By round four, just seven riders remained and the wall stood at 2.10 metres. Army Equitation School rider Lt. David Power recorded a clear round, but having suffered a dramatic fall after passing through the finish beam, he decided to retire, leaving just six going into round four.

Half of the six failed to clear the wall, which left just three for the final round facing a wall of 2.20m.

Jack O’Donohue, a member of Marion Hughes’ team, was riding in his first ever Puissance class and he was first in. A fantastic effort by him left it up to the remaining two to match his clear round.

Second to go were Peter Smyth and his unorthodox mount Cavalier Rusticana. They collected four faults on this occasion and had to settle for third place.

Last in was Breen and Cisero, a veteran of the Puissance class. The Hickstead-based rider sailed over the wall to share the spoils with his 20-year-old compatriot.