BALLINASLOE showgrounds was the venue for the show jumping section of Aughrim Show, which staged the final of the Connaught Sunshinewindows.ie 1.35m Grand Prix League of 2016. The sponsors on the day were Friends of Aughrim Show and the course was designed by Paul Duffy.

From 37 starting, 26 faulted in the opening round, leaving 11 to go forward to the jump-off.

The first to jump clear and set the standard, with a time of 45.71, was Shane Dalton and Clonguish Vivaro. The second clear round came from Jessica Burke riding CC Captain Cruise, who stopped the clock at 50.53 to move to second place before Tim McDonagh and Tick Tock Tina went clear in 44.02 to snatch the lead.

Shannen Howley, making her first appearance in the Grand Prix for this year, rode Twitter flawlessly to break the beam 54.80 seconds.

Shane Dalton then returned with Captains Magic Touch, previously ridden by Gabriel Slattery and a stalwart of the Connaught Grand Prix League, and they completed a neat, speedy round, without touching a single pole in a time of 42.29.

This was unbeatable, even though Sven Hadly and Quanbell had a fine try and jumped a clear round in 44.86.

So victory went to Shane Dalton and Captains Magic Touch, with second place going to Tim McDonagh and Tick Tock Tina and third to Shane Dalton again, this time riding Clonguish Vivaro.

Sven Hadley finished fourth with Quanbell, Jessica Burke was fifth with CC Captain Cruise and sixth was Shannen Howley riding Twitter. Seventh and eighth places went to Olive Clarke and Active Cruise (4, 45.37) and Luke Gibbons jnr riding Charlie ll (4, 50.02).

Sid Flynn’s best turn-out prize was awarded to Shannen Howley.

With all eight legs of this league completed, it came as no surprise that Shane Dalton, riding Pat Prendergast’s Belfields Captain, took the winning place on a score of 38 points.

He won the legs at Headford, Corrandulla and Duffy’s, was third in Tubberbride and ninth in Ballinasloe. Second place on the leaderboard was shared by Shane Dalton, riding Chimay, and Sven Hadley with Quanbell, who earned 24 points each.