OFFALY’S Darragh Kenny and the 12-year-old gelding Eddy Blue had a runner-up finish in Sunday’s four-star 1.55m Longines Grand Prix at Deauville in France.
Just five of the 50 starters made it into the jump-off, with Kenny jumping clear against the clock in 37.63 seconds to finish half a second behind French winner Mathieu Billot with Lord de Muze. Kevin Staut was third with Dialou Blue.
Billot registered his name in the list of winners of this great event for the second time, having won in 2018 with Shiva d’Amaury.
“Since his return to competition after his long convalescence, Lord de Muze has not missed a thing,” Billot said.
Cork’s Billy Twomey and Chat Botte ED narrowly missed out on a place in the jump-off when picking up just a time fault in the opening round, which left them in seventh place at the finish.
Kenny made the relatively short journey from Paris, where he had been on standby with Cartello VDL for the Underwriting Exchange Irish show jumping Team Ireland for the Olympics, to Deauville. He first delivered the goods on Thursday, winning the four-star Prix Hermès Sellier, again with Eddy Blue, which was ridden in a Table A against the clock.
A total of 81 rider-and-horse combinations lined out for what was a CSI4* Big Tour 1.50m Grand Prix qualifier.
Kenny and Eddy Blue (Eldorado vd Zeshoek), owned by Carol Sollak, were 58th to go and their time of 64.07 seconds, while jumping clear over the 1.50m track, survived the remaining challenges (31 clears in total) to claim the spoils.
New partnership
“I started riding Eddy Blue last year and Carol Sollak, my owner, bought him in January,” Kenny said.
“He is a fantastic horse, who jumped the CSIO5* Grand Prix in Rome without a fault and performed very well in the CSIO5* Nations Cup in Falsterbo. I think he is capable of jumping anything. I wanted to bring him here and offer him a great competition. This is the first time I have been here to Deauville, and I must admit that it is very beautiful: the organisers have done a great job.
“The fact of having participated in the Olympic Games without riding gives a little more motivation, because I would have liked to have had the chance to represent my country there.
“When I got back on the road to go home, I wondered what horse I could take to Los Angeles. Everyone is already starting to prepare, and I really want to go and compete. That’s my next goal. In 2028, Eddy Blue will be 16 and probably a little too old, but I think he will be a fantastic partner for the European Championships in La Coruña next year and the World Championships in Aachen in 2026.
“The top-ranked horses at Versailles were 12 to 14 years old. If I can count on a horse of that age and with enough experience at that point, I will have a good chance of achieving something.”
Also finishing in less than 65 seconds was France’s Kevin Staut (FRA) with Dialou Blue PS (Tailormade Diarado’s Boy).
Remarkably, the first and second placed horses in the Grand Prix qualifier were both bred by Gestüt Lewitz (GER) and both have Chacco-Blue as their dam-sire. Pedro Veniss (BRA) and Nimrod de Muze Imperio Egipcio (Nabab de Reve) came in third.