The Showjumping Ireland National Grand Prix saw its fourth leg of the season take place at Barnadown Equestrian Centre yesterday (May 7th 2017).
The Grand Prix, which was kindly sponsored by Ballywalter Farms Stallions on the day, had 54 competitors entered in the class. Course Designer John Doyle set a challenging track for the competitors, which saw 19 through to the jump off round, with only 9 of them completing the double. Liam O’Meara set a remarkable time with his own Mr. Coolcaum and kept all fences upright to take the winning spot on the podium and top of the leaderboard. His time was 39.17.
Nicholas Butler was hot on the chase with Ladycastle Syndicate owned Vimminka, but with .02 of a second separating him from O’Meara, Butler remained in second with a double clear and a time of 39.19.
Daryl Walker finished in third place on Cushions owned by Manuela Martinelli in a rime of 40.67.
Fourth place was help by Young Rider, Jenny Rankin who steered X-Flow Lightyear home clear in a time of 41.40. Francis Connors had a lovely round on Bobby Flynn’s Hyperion to take up 5th position in a time of 42.42, he also stood in 9th position on Stacey Babes & Mary Ann Papp’s Centolina RB in a time of 49.78.
Tholme Keane brought the first double clear in the jump off in a time of 44.96, which saw others take note of BMH Big Time owned by James Buckley and Caroline Telsch, but dropped to take 6th position in the final line up.
Jennifer Kuehnle rode a double clear in a time of 47.01 on board Ballistic M2S owned by Hans Jurgen Kuehnle to take up 7th position and just over a second slower, Stacey Babes rode Camillio VDL to a double clear in 48.45 to finish up in 9th place.
The fastest time of the afternoon was Mikey Pender, who stormed around on Brendan McSorley’s Quarrycrest Clover in a time of 37.44, but unfortunately with the second last fence hitting the found, it was tenth place in the line-up for Pender.
1st: Liam O'Meara ( Mr. Coolcaum) owned by Liam O'Meara (0/0-39.17)
2nd: Nicholas Butler (Vimminka) owned by Ladycastle Syndicate ( 0/0- 39.19)
3rd: Darryl Walker (Cushions) owned by Manuela Martinelli (0/0- 40.67)
4th: Jenny Rankin (X-Flow Lightyear) owned by Richard Bourns (0/0-41.40)
5th: Francis Connors (Hyperion) owned by Bobby Flynn (0/0-42.42)
6th: Tholm Keane ( BMH Big Time) owned by James Buckley & Caroline Teltsch (0/0-44.96)
7th: Jennifer Kuehnle (Ballistic M2S) owned by Hans Jurgen Kuehnle (0/0-47.01)
8th: Stacey Babes ( Camillo VDL) owned by K.Gallagher, D. Walsh & M. Meller (0/0-48.45)
9th: Francis Connors ( Centolina RB) owned by Stacey Babes & Mary Ann Papp (0/0-49.78)
10th: Michael James Pender (Quarrycrest Clover) owned by Brendan McSorley ( 0/4-37.44)
Ballywalter Farms, the home of our world class rider Bertram Allen, have started a new venture with the Ballywalter Farms Stallions and are now providing fresh seman from their stallions “Guinness “and “Romanov” and frozen seman from “Hector van d’Abdijihoeve”.
Number of entries:54
Number through to jump off:19
Winning Owner: Liam O’Meara
Photo credit: jumpinginaction.net