IRELAND’s international second win of the weekend fell to Cathal Daniels, who narrowly emerged the winner in a hotly contested CCI1* class. Poised in second spot overnight, and with Izzy Taylor breathing down his neck in third, Daniels inched ahead following an influential final phase.

Both he and Taylor tipped a rail, but when leaders Catherine Robinson and Black Ice rolled two, it was Daniels who emerged on top (45.4). Adding to the satisfaction, he was riding Michelle Nelson’s home-bred OLS King Aragon (by Samgemjee), the well related daughter of Ireland’s Olympic representative Just Beauty Queen. “He’s seriously a talented horse,” said Daniels afterwards. “He’s done a bit, but this was a big achievement to win in this company. He had a tough draw in the show jumping, and while he had a pole down, he jumped really well.”