High profile wins and placings from Aoife Clark, Mark Kyle and Austin O’Connor bode very well for the year ahead, as do a string of good runs from home-based traveller Harold Megahey, along with Patricia and Michael Ryan.

Kicking off in good style, Clark and O’Connor’s campaigns began at Isleham where the former won the feature open intermediate with P.J. Hegarty’s Fenyas Elegance (Ricardo Z). Despite lowering a pole in the show jumping, the Badminton-bound duo posted the fastest round of the day to forge ahead of Ian Wills aboard Hartpury Sky the Limit and Jonelle Price with the Irish-bred The Deputy (Cult Hero). Slower in the country, but recording a smart double clear, Austin O’Connor slotted comfortably into ninth with Kilpatrick Knight (Master Imp).

Earlier in the day, Clark picked up a runner-up placing with Wasting Light (Ghareeb) in a sector of open novice. In another division, the new partnership of Patricia Ryan and Dunrath Eclipse shared a creditable second place after dressage before completing in seventh spot with a steady double clear. This promising debut performance will have delighted both Ryan and long-term owners Tom and Carol Henry, who purchased the former Vicky Brown-owned son of Chinook Eclipse at the end of last season.

The following weekend, the major Irish action took place at Oasby. Already clearly on form, Clark focused her attention on the three sections of open intermediate, where she filled a runner-up spot with the thoroughbred Vaguely North (Distinctly North). She also piloted her Olympic partner Master Crusoe (Master Imp) into fourth place in another section and picked up a fifth spot with her Lion d’Angers runner-up Fernhill Adventure (Newmarket Venture).

The following weekend, team Clark travelled to Lincoln, where Vaguely North was placed sixth in a hot intermediate behind Gemma Tattersall and the former Colm Murphy-trained Arctic Soul (Luso).

In similar sectors, former junior squad member Harold Megahey and Chuckelberry (Louella Inschallah 11) produced a good performance against senior opposition to fill fourth and Mark Kyle moved into seventh with Jemilla (Mill Law). Kyle also took seventh spot in another strong section, this time partnering his Olympic mount Coolio.

In second spot on the Badminton wait list, the son of Ghareeb looks more than likely to get a run and was enjoying his first event outing since Tattersalls last year.

At the opposite end of the country, Austin O’Connor was kept busy at Aldon. Moving up a gear, the Joan Dolan-bred Kilpatrick Knight posted a second place in an open intermediate, leaving stable mate Day By Day (Jumbo) in seventh. At the same fixture, Midlands based Wexford man Alan Nolan recorded a smart novice win with Mini Diamond (Glidawn Diamond).

The industrious O’Connor rode five horses at Gatcombe the following weekend and gained points with four. In the major classes, he rode Ringwood Mississippi (Mark Twain) into fifth in the advanced intermediate and took eighth spot in the open intermediate aboard GFG Rambo Man (Puissance).

Finally Mark Kyle was in unbeatable form at Great Witchingham. Retaining the ride on the former Go For Gold graduate SBT Prospector (Tasset), he won a competitive open novice as well as the open intermediate with John Troy’s Loughton Pearl (Cruising).