THE Connolly’s Red Mills CCI4*-S was a hotly contested class at last weekend’s Millstreet International Horse Trials and it was the Australian Kevin McNab who took the win with Faro Imp. The nine-year-old, bred by Martin Gronert, is by F-One and out of Carnival Imp, appears to like the Irish soil as this combination won the Eventing Ireland Coral Cove CCIYH2*-S for six-year-olds back in 2022.

They posted a score of 28.8 in the dressage arena and couldn’t be caught, adding just 3.6 time penalties to it, they were the quickest around Mike Etherington-Smith’s cross-country course. “Faro Imp has a real natural motor and travelled very well,” said McNab. “There aren’t many better cross-country tracks in the world and that’s why we keep coming back.”