“ABSOLUTELY elated,” is how Ireland’s Shane Breen described how he felt after winning the Longines Grand Prix of Ireland for the first time last Sunday at the 2019 Dublin Horse Show aboard Ipswich Van De Wolfsakker.

This victory has been a while coming for the British-based Tipperary man, having finished second two years ago.

“Two years ago with Golden Hawk I was second, actually to Lorenzo (de Luca), and you dream of getting the chance to do it again,” Breen said afterwards. “I think maybe 10 years ago with World Cruise I had the fastest time with one down.

“You’re just knocking on the door for so long wondering will you ever get it done, so to win it today is just so fantastic. I’m so, so delighted.

“I nearly didn’t bring Ipswich. I jumped him in London last week and we didn’t qualify for the Grand Prix, we had an unlucky fence down in the qualification round and then I decided ah I’ll bring him along.

“I had him here the year before last and he won the jump-off class so I thought ‘why not’. When there is something you want so much, in the sport that you love, and the one Grand Prix that I really wanted to win was this one. For me this is as good as winning any medal, it means everything.

“My Mum passed away about six years ago and it’s her birthday every year during the RDS so I think she was looking down on me here today. When I jumped the third last I had a decent rub off it and it stayed up and I thought ‘she’s looking down just keep going, keep going’.

“And then Scott Brash going last... we are best friends and he is a fantastic rider. He lives 10 minutes down the road from us in Hickstead and we were joking last night when I saw the draw, I said ‘If I’m in the lead when you come in just go steady will you?’

“He says he was in it to win it, but I’m so glad it was my day today. I’m delighted he was second, and so is he, so it’s a great result all round... just perfect,” Breen added.

Speaking about the 11-year-old Ipswich Van De Wolfsakker (Carembar de Muze x Quick Star), owned by Breen Equestrian, Jos Lansink Horses and Konstantin Pysarenko, he added: “He (Ipswich) is a fantastic horse. He won in Monaco last year and it’s like chalk and cheese; the arena in Monaco is really tiny and here is so big and open.

“He has been brilliant this year, I have jumped 12 rounds of the Global Champions league and he has been 10 times clear, so he has been super consistent. We have been in the jump-off in three of those Grands Prix. He’s a wonderful horse to have.

“I’m very lucky. Konstantin Pysarenko and his father Anatona, and Jos Lansink, own him and they are fantastic owners. They let me make my own plan with him, he’s a special horse.

“At home he’s very quiet, my daughter Darcy could ride him he’s so nice. But when it’s show day he gets so tense and so anxious, he knows when it’s the big occasion and he’s there and he’s ready. He is 11 now and I think he is getting better and better, I know him really well now. I’m just delighted for everyone involved.”

Premonition

“It’s funny. My wife Chloe is here with me and our good friends too. One of them, Chris, said to me on Thursday, and then again at lunch today: ‘You’re going to win the Grand Prix!’ Now I don’t know what it is, maybe it is that you have that much of a confident team around you and then to do it... it’s amazing.

“Chloe is as happy as I am, and it’s great my Dad is here and my cousins and so many family and friends. Bertram Allen was fantastic; he walked down the shoot to the ring with me today.

“I’m delighted for the whole team and we have a large, very hard working bunch at Hickstead. Ellen Peters looks after Ipswich and she knows him so well. My other head girl, Natalie, is actually having a baby today and she calls Ipswich ‘Fifi’, so he is her baby too. It’s a massive team effort and I’m delighted for everyone involved.”

A total of 40 combinations had qualified to line out for the increased prize pot of €350,000 over the Alan Wade-designed track. By the end of round one, eight horses had collected four faults for a single fence down. The time allowed of 82 seconds became a factor for a further four when they collected five faults.

Indeed the time played a significant part for Ireland’s Mikey Pender (HHS Burnchurch) who, along with Italy’s Massimo Grossato (Lazzaro Delle Schiave), was denied a place in the jump-off with one a single time fault. Another Italian rider, Paolo Paini, was then just slightly slower to add two time faults to his otherwise clean sheet.

Tense jump-off

Just seven riders, three of them Irish, progressed to the timed decider over a shortened eight-fence track. Twenty-year-old Kilkenny rider Susan Fitzpatrick was pathfinder aboard the home-produced nine-year-old Je T’Aime Flamenco gelding Fellow Castlefield.

The pair produced another impressive round of jumping and were unlucky to have the penultimate fence down for four faults in a time of 33.23, the fastest of the day, which would be good enough for eventual fourth place in the final line-up.

Second to go, Richard Howley from Co Sligo and the Dutch-bred gelding Chinook also picked up just four faults, theirs coming at the second part of the double for four faults in 33.29 for fifth place.

Britain’s Ben Maher was part of the winning Aga Khan team on Friday and he went third riding his own and Jane Forbes Clarke’s Clinton stallion Tic Tac. Maher was fresh from winning the Grand Prix of London just one week earlier with Explosion W but it wasn’t to be in Dublin when Tic Tac knocked the second part of the double in 33.33 for joint sixth place.

Italy’s Lorenzo de Luca and the Stephex Stables’ stallion Dinky Toy V. Kranenburg were next. They posted the first double clear round when they left all the fences up in 39.17 to head proceedings. World number one, Switzerland’s Steve Guerdat and Venard De Cerisy were on target for a clear until an error at the final fence saw their hopes of victory fade away, they finished on four in the exact same time as Maher (33.33) to divide sixth place.

The penultimate rider in was Breen with Ipswich Van De Wolfsakker. They produced a superb clear in a time of 34.91 to snatch the lead from the Italian’s grasp and cause the nation to hold their breath as the final rider, Britain’s Scott Brash, entered the ring.

Brash was aboard the 10-year-old Belgian-bred gelding Hello Jefferson and looked to be right on target as he cleared fence after fence.

As he approached the final line it was clear that he was slightly off Breen’s time, but it wasn’t until he broke the finish beam that onlookers allowed themselves to believe it – the dream was a reality and the trophy for Longines International Grand Prix was back in Irish hands.