“I WAS happy to be back at Glandoran after so many years,” said Ian Cassells last Sunday, after he won the 20-runner EI110 at the venue with Tom McCarthy’s MGH Rioja. “The courses were nice, if a little bit twisty and, though the ground was firm, the team did a great job considering the weather recently,” he continued.

“I only picked up the reins on MGH Rioja recently. I normally teach Zara McCarthy on him, but she’s away at Bicton [where she finished 10th in the CCIJ2*-L riding Romans Red Affair] and she’s done a really good job of producing him. He’s a big, strong horse, but he’s very talented,” said Cassells of the grey eight-year-old by the Holsteiner sire Lewine.