ATHLONE’S Francis Derwin has had a stellar month in Ocala, where he is based with a string of horses belonging to Cian O’Connor’s Karlswood Stables. On January 10th, he earned $24,000 when he finished second in the CSI3* 1.50m Grand Prix with the Knightfield Stud-bred Irish Sport Horse, Flexi K.

At the same venue on January 16th, he emerged the best of the 52 starters when he won the CSI2* $32,000 1.45m Grand Prix qualifier on Gospel Tame, with a time almost two seconds faster than runners-up Hunter Holloway (USA) and Koblenz. On the same day, he also finished sixth with Lambada Shake AG in the four-star $32,000 1.45m Winning Round class.