JOSEPH Murphy had a successful event at Little Downham, Murphy placed on each of his three horses, winning one of the advanced and one the intermediate sections.

Sportsfield Othello made his first appearance since Burghley CCI4* in August where he finished 22nd. The 17-year-old by Ricardo Z posted a dressage score of 36.2 and added 0.8 time penalties to finish on 37.0 ahead of Vittoria Panizzon and Borough Pennyz (38.6) to win the class.

Murphy and Sportsfield Othello recorded the fastest cross-country round across the two advanced sections. In the other section, Murphy finished fifth with Fernhill Frankie. The pair added 8.0 time penalties to their dressage score of 37.9 to finish fifth. Izzy Taylor won the section with Frog Rock.

Both Sportsfield Othello and Fernhill Frankie ran at the UK event in preparation for Etoiles de Pau, the final four star of the season.

Murphy completed the double with Ballybolger Watchman in the intermediate. He has been campaigning the horse since July and credited Daniel Alderson with producing the horse. Ballybolger Watchman will be aimed towards a CCI2* next season.

The gelding, owned by Sam Watson and bred by his mother Julia, was third after dressage but the only combination to come home within the optimum time cross-country. With one pole down, Murphy finished almost eight penalties ahead of Andrew Nicholson in second. Ireland’s Karen Grey finished fourth with Lexus Hof Ter Zeedycke and Niall Griffin and Monarts Cavalier finished 11th in the same intermediate section.