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).