SVEN Hadley and his own eight-year-old Make It Easy won the first round of the 2025 TRM/ Showjumpers’ Club Spring Tour in JAG last Sunday.

By Don’t Touch It M, out of C-Larissa, by Landos, the gelding proved fastest in the very large 20-way jump-off breaking the beams in 30.04 to secure the win and the lion’s share of the €2,500 prize fund.

Speaking to The Irish Field after the win, Hadley said: “I’ve had him for about a year now. He’s very competitive, he was placed in a number of the seven-year-old classes at the end of last year. He was also placed in a couple of the classes in Mechelen.

“I’ll do five or six of the spring tour classes and then probably aim him at the seven and eight-year-olds in Dublin.

“Everything he has done so far, he has been very comfortable with, so I think he could go far. He is very straightforward to ride and is naturally very quick.

“The mare I won the 1.20m with is 13 years old. She had a foal by my own stallion Phenomene Bleu VDM last year and is just coming back. She’s been off for three years, we have three foals from her. We tried to get her in foal last year, but it didn’t work out.”

Of the 20 combinations in the timed decider, just eight managed to produce a double clear round. Hadley took the win, but it was tight at the top with first, second and third all recording sub-31 second times.

Jim Donohoe and Niamh O’Donnabhain’s Culdearg Clover Lad (Gelvin Clover x Touchdown) came closest to catching the leader, when they stopped the clock at 30.79 to claim the runner-up spot.

Third went to Robin Carey and her own Luicruz (Luidam x Puissance), bred by Sean Fahy, just a fraction behind in a time of 30.80.

Prime Equipment Ltd’s Inlaws Orinoco (Harlequin Du Carel x Oklund), bred by Michael Byrne, slotted into fourth in 31.70.

Annabel Shields and Flaminia Straumann’s German-bred stallion Quantino (Quartz x Coriano) were fifth, while Liam O’Meara and his own Cevann (Cevin Z x Kannan) took sixth.