CATHAL Daniels may be more familiar to those who follow eventing rather than show jumping, but he certainly made his trip to Vejer de la Frontera in Spain a worthwhile one last week.

As well as a number of placings with various horses, including a couple of podium finishes, Daniels rode Rioghan Rua to win Friday’s 1.20m Medium Tour two-phase special class.

From the 35 starters, an impressive 16 jumped clear in both phases, with time being crucial to the final result. Daniels and Rioghan Rua jumped double clear in a time of 31.36 seconds, which just couldn’t be bettered. Runner-up Soukaina Ouaddar (MAR) on Colibri de Hus Z finished almost a second behind in 32.27.

Week one of the four-star Andalucia Sunshine Tour at Vejer de la Frontera in Spain last week, attracted a number of Irish competitors, with several of them finishing in the ribbons.

In Thursday’s 1.45m Medium Tour class, Ireland’s Jeremy Sweetnam rode Come To Me into sixth place, when jumping clear in a time of 64.40 seconds. The class was won by Spanish rider Jorge Bidon Daurella on Donatella du Landel in a very fast time of 59.12.

In the 1.30m Medium Tour class, Cathal Daniels finished on the podium in third place with Candy, when clear in 65.43 seconds. The winning round came from Belgian rider Roy van Beek on Celebrity-H in a speedy 60.10, with Portugal’s Bernardo Ladeira on Kings Lady in second place (61.34).

Billy Twomey on Julius placed fourth in the day’s 1.40m Medium Tour class with a clear round in 60.92 seconds. The win went to Chloe Aston (GBR) on Flavie van de Helle (58.38).

On Friday, the 1.30m Small Tour class saw Isabel O’Brien on Javas Gucci finish best of the Irish in 10th place when jumping clear in 72.07, while in the day’s 1.10m Classic Tour class, Sean Cubitt finished fourth with Nord Prince when clear in 66.17.

The 1.40m Medium Tour two-phase special class saw a fourth-place finish for Harry Allen on Classic (37.73), followed closely by Daniels on Candy in sixth (37.85).

Twomey on Jumping Jack van de Kalevallei finished 10th (36.94) in the 1.45m Big Tour two-phase special class, where the win went to Spain’s Kevin Gonzalez De Zarate Fernandez on Chinixen.

Saturday’s 1.45m Small Grand Prix saw Twomey on Jumping Jack van de Kalevallei place 10th of the 72 starters. Twomey was among the 13 clear first rounds, but had four faults in round two. There were only five who jumped double clear.

Cubitt and Nord Prince won the day’s 1.10m Classic Tour class, when he jumped double clear and set an unbeatable phase two time of 27.53, while Daniels on Rioghan Rua took sixth place in the 1.20m Medium Tour speed class, when fastest of the four-faulters in 68.91.

Sunday saw Twomey finish seventh with Julius in the 1.50m Medium Tour Grand Prix. Just 10 of the 43 starters jumped clear in the first round to proceed to the jump-off, with six of them remaining clear second time out. Twomey was the fastest of the four-faulters in 40.17.

The 1.30m Small Tour Accumulator was won by Marta Hughes-Bravo on the 14-year-old Irish Sport Horse HHS Toronto scoring the maximum 65 points in a time of 49.83 seconds, while Cubitt and Nord Prince were runners-up in the 1.15m Classic Tour speed class in 57.24.

The 1.45m Big Tour class saw Daniels and CDS Cappog Tomy claim fourth place in 66.04 and the rider went one better in the 1.20m Medium Tour two-phase special when third with Rioghan Rua in 36.08.

The show concluded for the Irish with Twomey on Quelle Dame van’t Meerhof placing eighth in the 1.30m Medium Tour two-phase special class.