THE Irish certainly made their presence felt at the Amadeus Christmas Horse Show at Salzburg in Austria over the weekend.

Last Thursday, Paddy Reape rode Creevagh Special to win the Under 25 1.40m class, closely followed by Harry Allen on Lukaku VD Bisschop in second; the latter pair continued that form when also claiming second in the Under 25 1.45m class on Friday.

Paddy Reape and Creevagh Special won an Under 25 1.40m class at Salzburg \ Silberpfeil Amadeus Horse Indoors / OneKlickFoto

Saturday saw Reape on Creevagh Special and Allen on Lukaku VD Bisschop placing fourth and fifth respectively in the Under 25 1.50m Grand Prix, which was won by Denmark’s Victoria Sophia Hjorth-Madsen and Catwalk V with the only double clear of the competition. Reape and Allen each had an unfortunate four faults in the first round, with only two of the 17 starters jumping clear.

In Saturday’s three-star 1.45m class, Ireland’s Ciaran Dreeling and Hertog Jan secured fourth place with a clear round in a time of 60.68 seconds.

Harry Allen rode Calculatus (Cachassini x Contello) into third place in the three-star 1.55m Grand Prix in Salzburg on Sunday. Out of 47 starters, there were nine clear first rounds.

Allen was one of four to also jump clear over the jump-off track, with two faster rounds than his from winner, Marc Houtzager (NED) with Sterrehof’s Dante NOP, and runner-up, Gerfried Puck (AUT) with Naxcel V.

Sunday’s two-star 1.45m Grand Prix saw Anna Duff take seventh place with the Irish Sport Horse MC Crosskeys. The class was also won by Houtzager, this time riding Klasse EB.

Irish dominance

Also at Salzburg, in the FEI Pony Trophy opening class on Friday, Ireland’s Abbie Oakey took second place with Boutade Ste Hermelle (SF); Jack Cash placed fourth with Quina Van’t Gestelhof (BWP) and Lauren Adams came fifth with Slieve Bloom Bella Rose (ISH); Senan Reape on Fernando and Zoe Keys on Victory Day placed 10th and 11th respectively. Irish dominance continued in Saturday’s FEI Pony Trophy Grand Prix, with Lauren Adams taking the top spot with Slieve Bloom Bella Rose; Senan Reape on Fernando in second; Jack Cash on Quina Van’t Gestelhof in fourth and Abbie Oakey on Boutade Ste Hermelle in 10th.

Senan Reape and Fernando came second in the FEI Jumping Ponies’ Trophy Grand Prix \ Daniel Kaiser

Dressage

Meanwhile, in the dressage classes at Salzburg, Ireland’s Anna Merveldt scored 73.520% with the 14-year-old Lusitano stallion Esporim, owned by Mario Greco, Michael Higgins and Giovanna Mazza, for sixth place in the Grand Prix Kür (Freestyle to Music) class at the four-star Amadeus Christmas Horse Show on Sunday.

Germany’s Franz Trischberger and DSP James Bond won the Grand Prix Kür on a score of 78.920%, ahead of Spanish rider Juan Rodriguez Caravajal and Meggle’s Boston on 77.830% for second. Charlotta Rogerson and Famora scored 76.075% to complete the podium for Switzerland in third place.

Azelhof

Elsewhere in Europe, Edward Doyle Junior rode the 10-year-old bay stallion Quick Bill (Flex A Bill x Quick Star) into eighth place in the two-star 1.45m Grand Prix in Azelhof/Lier, Belgium.