31 March 2022 - Flipbook - Page 91
HORSEWEEK
FARMWEEK
MAY 12 2022
91
Impressive eighth place finish
for O’Connor at Badminton
A
brilliant closing
round on the
final
day
of
Badminton
Horse
Trials
in the UK on Sunday
gave Ireland’s Austin
O’Connor and the Irishbred gelding ‘Colorado
Blue’ an excellent eighth
place finish. O’Connor,
who finished 13th at the
Tokyo Olympic Games
with the Salty Syndicateowned ‘Colorado Blue’,
was in 58th place after
the opening Dressage
phase.
A
perfect
clear inside the time
in Saturday’s crosscountry, followed by
another
clear
show
jumping round with
just 0.4 time penalties
in the final phase, saw
O’Connor climb the
leaderboard and finish
on a final score of 36.3.
Susie Berry was the
next-best Irish finisher
in 17th place with ‘John
The Bull’ (ISH), while
Padraig McCarthy took
33rd position with ‘HHS
Noble Call’ and finished
41st with ‘Fallulah’.
It was an impressive
showing overall from
Irish Sport Horses, who
filled three of the top
five places. ‘Swallow
Springs’ (ISH) took third
place on the podium
with Oliver Townend
(GBR); ‘Vanir Kamira’
(ISH) and Piggy March
(GBR) finished fourth;
while ‘Ballaghmor Class’
(ISH) finished fifth again ridden by Oliver
Townend. There was
also a top 10 finish for
‘Alfies Clover’ (ISH) with
EXCELLENT: Austin O’Connor and ‘Colorado Blue’
(ISH) placed eighth at Badminton Horse Trials.
(FW19-577NN)
PICTURE: courtesy of Irish Eventing Times
Richard Jones (GBR).
Britain’s
Laura
Collett and ‘London
52’ were named 2022
Badminton Champions.
An
outstanding
performance
saw
them add just 0.4 time
penalties
to
their
Dressage score of 21.0
to claim the title, while
Rosalind Canter (GBR)
finished as runner-up
with ‘Lordships Graffalo’
on 26.0.
DRESSAGE
The world famous
Badminton International
Horse
Trials
got
underway
last
Thursday
in
South
Gloucestershire,
with
Westmeath’s
Joseph
Murphy the leading
Irish rider with ‘Cesar V’
after the opening day of
Dressage. Fresh from an
impressive top 10 finish
the previous weekend
at the five-star Kentucky
Horse Trials in the USA,
Murphy lay in 17th place
ON FORM: Susie Berry and ‘John The Bull’ (ISH)
scored 28.8 in the Dressage phase at Badminton
Horse Trials and finished in 17th place overall.
(FW19-578NN)
PICTURE: courtesy of Irish Eventing Times
ACTION: Ireland’s Joseph Murphy with ‘Cesar V’ in
action at Badminton Horse Trials. (FW19-579NN)
PICTURE: courtesy of Irish Eventing Times
at the end of day one on
a score of 31.5, with 41
competitors having gone
at that stage.
Tipperary’s
Padraig
McCarthy and ‘Fallulah’
were just one place
further back in 18th
on 31.7, while Galway’s
Cathal Daniels was also
inside the top 20 with
‘Barrichello’ on a score
of 32.7.
A brilliant Dressage
performance on day
two of Badminton Horse
Trials from Susie Berry
and the Irish Sport
Horse ‘John The Bull’
put them in 18th place
of 83 competitors on a
score of 28.8 - less than
eight penalties off the
lead heading into the
weekend.
Joseph Murphy was
next best of the Irish
with ‘Cesar V’ in 29th
place on a score of 31.5,
just ahead of Padraig
McCarthy and ‘Fallulah’
in 30th on 31.7.
Britain’s Laura Collett
and ‘London 52’ held
the lead on a remarkable
score of 21 penalties.
Three Irish Sport Horses
were inside the top 10
with ‘Swallow Springs’
(ISH) in equal sixth place
with Oliver Townend
(GBR) on a score of 25.7,
while another Irish Sport
Horse, ‘Vanir Kamira’,
was on the same score
with Piggy March (GBR).
‘Ballaghmor Class’ (ISH)
was in equal eighth
place, again ridden by
Oliver Townend on a
score of 25.9.
CLEAR:
Right, Clare
Abbott and
‘Jewelent’
were well
placed after
a clear
round across
country at
Badminton,
but were
unfortunately
unable to
show jump.
(FW19WELL DONE: Susie Berry and ‘John The Bull’ had a 580AH)
PICTURE:
top 20 finish at Badminton. (FW19-582AH)
PICTURE: Anne Hughes Anne Hughes
CROSS-COUNTRY
A strong showing by
several Irish Eventing
riders in Saturday’s
cross-country
phase
at
Badminton,
saw
big changes on the
leaderboard
heading
into Sunday’s final show
jumping.
Cork’s Austin O’Connor
and ‘Colorado Blue’,
owned by the Salty
Syndicate,
produced
a brilliant clear crosscountry round inside the
time to climb a massive
45 places to 13th overall.
O’Connor was the first
rider to come home clear
inside the time allowed one of just five riders
to do so - to stay on his
Dressage score of 35.9.
Clare
Abbott
and
the Irish Sport Horse
‘Jewelent’ also came
home without jumping
penalties, adding just
four time penalties to
their Dressage score
and lay in 16th place
overall on 37.2. Elizabeth
Power and ‘Soladoun’
were also among the
Irish combinations who
made big gains on the
standings. A clear round
with 6.4 time penalties
saw them rise to 20th
place on 39.4; while Susie
Berry and the Irish Sport
Horse ‘John The Bull’
were in 22nd position on
41.6.
It was a fantastic
afternoon for Irish Sport
Horses, who filled three
TAKING A BREAK: Dawn Hirst, family and friends
enjoying a break at Badminton Horse Trials.
(FW19-581AH)
PICTURE: Anne Hughes
of the top five places.
‘Swallow Springs’ (ISH)
was in second place with
Oliver Townend (GBR)
on 25.7, while Townend
was also in third place
with another Irish Sport
Horse,
‘Ballaghmor
Class’ on 25.9. ‘Vanir
Kamira’
(ISH)
and
Piggy
March
(GBR)
were in fifth place just
5.1 penalties behind
British leader Laura
Collett with ‘London 52’,
who remained on their
excellent Dressage score
of 21.0.
RESULTS
BADMINTON 2022
Top 10 Irish bred
horses:
3) Swallow Springs
[ISH] - 2008 gelding by
Chillout (ISH), out of
Kilila (ISH)[TIH] by Cult
Hero (TB). Breeder:
Maria Keating (Galway);
4) Vanir Kamira (ISH)
- 2005 mare by Camiro
De Haar Z (ZANG),
out of Fair Caledonian
(WNTR) by Dixi (TB).
Breeder:
Kathryn
Jackson (Monaghan); 5)
Ballaghmor Class (ISH)
- 2007 gelding Courage II
(HOLST), out of Kilderry
Place (ISH). Breeder:
Noel Hickey (Limerick);
8)
Colorado
Blue
(SHBGB) - 2009 gelding
by Jaguar Mail (SF), out
of Rock Me Baby (AES),
by Rock King (WNTR).
Breeder: Mellon Stud /
Kate Jarvey, Limerick;
10) Alfies Clover (ISH) 2007 gelding by Tajraasi
(TB), out of Aoifes Clover
(P)(ISH)[TIH] by Clover
Hill (ID). Breeder: James
Hickey, Co. Waterford.
Full Badminton scores
are available at www.
badminton-horse.co.uk
Champions crowned in Badminton
Grassroots Championship
KATHERINE Illingworth had the thrill
of a lifetime when winning the Voltaire
Design Grassroots Championship
(BE 100) held at Badminton on Philip
Adkins’ ‘Ballinoecastle Q’, a sevenyear-old by ‘Obos Quality’.
Katherine, 27, who acts as head girl
for Philip’s Cadenza Eventing yard in
Northamptonshire, added nothing
to her dressage score of 29.5 to
finish 1.5 penalties ahead of Hannah
Taylor, who has a three-fold career
as an engineering student, part-time
rider and pet portraitist, riding her
own ‘Legaland Best One’.
Katie Stephens-Grandy, a farmer
and photographer from North
Yorkshire, was third on ‘Trendy
Magic Touch’.
It was a big day for amateur riders,
who unanimously declared their
day on the hallowed turf of the
Badminton park to be ‘brilliant’.
“The atmosphere is fantastic,
everyone helps you,” said Katherine,
who was quick to pay tribute to her
employer.
“I am very lucky to compete Philip’s
horses and I can’t thank him enough.
He has put a lot of work and money
into my riding.”
Siobhan Heneghan won the BE 90
championship on her mother Lisa’s
‘Mermured Promise’, an 11-yearold Irish-bred, iron-grey gelding
by ‘Mermus’. She finished on her
dressage score of 28, 1.5 penalties
clear of runner-up Laura Gibson, a
veterinary physiotherapist, on Sally
Hayward’s ‘Gortglas Moonshine’.
Third was Megan Elphick on her own
PINNACLE: The Grassroots
Championship at Badminton is the
pinnacle for grass-roots members of
British Eventing. (FW19-551NN)
‘Jamelia’.
“This has been the best experience
ever,” said Siobhan, a 20-year-old
trainee accountant from south
Oxfordshire.
“I just wanted to come here and have
a nice time - I never expected to win!”
“Having
the
Voltaire
Design
Grassroots
Championships
at
Badminton is absolutely key to British
Eventing,” said BE’s chief executive
Helen West.
“It is the pinnacle for our grass-roots
members and it’s our crown jewels.
It is what so many of our members
aspire to do and, in competing here
today, they have achieved a lifetime
ambition, and that is very, very
special.”
Full results are on www.www.
eventingscores.co.uk