A FAVOURITE for the prize for the most enthusiastic owner would have to be Virginia Maguire who, after a nerve-wracking show jumping round, watched her home-bred thoroughbred Handsome Starr land the Sema Lease CCI2-L*.

Ably ridden by Steven Smith, the son of September Song had led the 11 runners from flag fall, and with a comfortable advantage had entered the show jumping with a fence in hand. It was not plain sailing however, as having lowered the first fence, and rattled a few others, the result went to the wire.

“This is my first international win as an owner, so it is the icing on the cake,” said Maguire, who as one of Smith’s most loyal owners never misses watching her horse run and has been the Northern region’s leading owner/breeder for the past few years. She also owned the dam Mymillenniumstarr, who was successfully campaigned by Steven as well as by Stuart Crawford.

A former RDS event horse finalist and now 10-years-old, Handsome Starr made little of the tough going, despite preferring the top of the ground. “I just kept to my minute markers and the time came up easily,” said Smith.

Narrow margin

A trio of up-and coming young Irish riders filled the next three placings and there was little to choose between them. Sharing the same completion score of 30.4, but closer to the optimum, the runner-up spot fell to 16-year-old Amelia McCarthy and Finsceal Endeavour.

The Co Meath pair, who won the CCI* Intro at the venue last autumn and were reserves for the junior team last year, have this season’s inclusion in their sights. A son of Metropole, Finsceal Endeavour was sourced by McCarthy as a three-year-old, and having been initially campaigned by Amanda Goldsbury, looks an exciting prospect.

As a former winner of The Irish Field junior eventing rider of the year and European junior squad member, Godfrey Gibbons filled third place with Milchem Miami, a talented mare he and his mother Marie bought from breeder and mentor Ralph Conroy two years ago. Gibbons, who is juggling his studies with five event horses, cited that a move to three-star maybe in the pipeline for this smart daughter of Glasgow Van’t Merelsnest, although he is in no rush to upgrade.

While a pole on the floor was not costly for the winner, it was for Alex Connors who slipped from second with her sister Zara’s former European Young Rider team horse OLS Aragon. This was nevertheless a notable performance for the pair, who carrying a dressage score of 26.6 were one of just three to break the sub 30 mark. Another to drop out of contention after the show jumping was the team Hong Kong member Daniella Lin (A Sparkling Bellini). In third place on the flat, they tipped just one pole, to slide to seventh in the rankings.

The cross-country proved straightforward for all bar the British-based Alannah Grieve, who unfortunately walked home with Erco Polo B.