ACTION in the SJI Autumn Grand continued last weekend as riders headed north to contest two rounds at the SJI Autumn Championships in Portmore. The first of the rounds on Saturday, the 135m Grand Prix, saw a win for Frank Curran and Oliver Twister. Owned by Heffron Equine and bred by Sydney Cranston from Co Monaghan, Oliver Twister (ISH) is an 11-year-old gelding by the Voltaire-sired Oliver out of the Don Juan De La Bouverie-sired dam Skerrymores Don One. The chesnut gelding was originally bought by Harvey Smith at Cavan Horse Sales as a four-year-old and was campaigned for a short time by Francis Connors in 2016 before being taken over by Curran.

This was the second good result for this combination of late, having finished fifth in the round at Kernans.

“I’m delighted to win the Grand Prix at Portmore,” said a delighted Frank Curran. “Oliver is an out and out winner and has won loads of these classes. There was a lot of fast riders in the class so I knew I had to be quick. I’d like to thank the sponsors Bluegrass Horse Feeds, Showjumping Ireland, the Heffron family who own Oliver, and Rafael and Chantal Suarez for running a great show.”

It was a very competitive class, with the top six finishers in the 15-way jump-off coming home clear and within 36 seconds. With a win in mind, Curran set off in a determined pace and negotiated a very tight line to the third vertical. Opting to take the inside line to the oxer saw him up on the clock and this matched with a stride out to the final vertical saw him lodged the fastest clear 34.45 seconds.

There was nothing between the placings as Simon Scott and Ploverfield Lilyana galloped home with nothing to add in a time of in 34.83. This result was on the back of their second-place finish at Eglington Northern Ireland Indoor Championships a few weeks ago. Bred by Frank O’Connor in Co Cork, this nine-year-old mare is by Eurocommerce Pittsburg out of the Last News-sired dam Ploverfield Lastnews.

Making the long trip from Co Meath paid off for Gerard Clarke as he filled third place with Lupins Lux Z, clear in 35.25. Fractions behind Clarke were Robert Harrison and Landlystes Rubina, who also kept the poles in place in 35.92 for eventual fourth. Olive Clarke added to her tally on the leaderboard, claiming fifth with Clonguish Vivaro when they stopped the clock clear in 35.98. This pair went into this round top of the leaderboard and a fifth-place finished added an extra five points to their tally. Accounting for sixth place were Derek McConnell and Longfield Quinlui, who kept the poles in place in 36.69.