Garrigan and Grace place in Ermelo

AT two-star level, Matt Garrigan was the only non-native among the top 16 finishers when securing the middle berth of the podium in a 1.45m speed contest at the National Equestrian Centre in Ermelo, The Netherlands, last Friday.

The Dubliner propelled Grace V (Glocks London) to a very quick clear round in 35.10, but the Dutch supporters were celebrating as Lisa Nooren went faster on Querido van’t Ruytershof, stopping the clock on 34.47 to take the first prize.

Irish drivers on

the podium

FIVE Irish drivers competed at Kronenberg FEI event recently with Arthur Sheane and John Kennedy each placing second in the 2* Junior Single Pony and 2* Pony Team classes respectively.

Arthur also placed 12th in the Senior 2* Single Horse, while Emma Golding was fourth in the Para class and Annika Rohrssen and Richard Logan were 16th and 20th respectively in the 3* Pony Pairs.

The drivers also recorded a number of first places in individual phases at the event with Arthur and John winning their dressage phases and Arthur and Emma winning their cones phases.

Arthur Sheane then went on to become the recipient of the Northern Ireland Carriage Driving Association’s Anna Rose Kearns Memorial Trophy for the best marathon score at their first event of the year last weekend with his pony. This special trophy was presented to Arthur by Neil Kearns.

Success at Chepstow

Chepstow Spring International CSI2* proved a worthy outing for Irish riders including Sean Monaghan who was third in the CSI2* Medium Tour with Tiberio Della Caccia.

Jessica Burke also had success there in the CSIYH1* six-year-old final aboard Hk Dominatara (Dominator 2000 Z) with fellow Irish rider Taylor Peare fourth with Cortina-D Z.