THE footing was excellent and the surroundings very inviting for the Duffy’s leg of the Connaught Sunshinewindows.ie 1.35m Grand Prix, sponsored by O’Malley & Co Accountants, Galway.

This was the penultimate leg of the league and Paul Duffy built a testing track for the 34 competitors. First into the jump-off was Shane Dalton, who had finished first and third in the previous class. He and his father Richard’s Chimay attacked the fences with gusto, knocked nothing and galloped through the finish completing the course in 40.07 seconds.

This result appeared unbeatable for a time until Sven Hadley with Hadley Sporthorses’ Quanbell displayed their usual passion for speed and jumped clear in 40.31.

Cormac Rafferty with his wife Aoife’s KMR Benzini had a very good attempt, jumping clear and stopping the clock at 43.88 to keep things exciting. Patrick Lenehan’s Captains Call and Olive Clarke moved swiftly ahead of Rafferty with their clear round in 42.75 and then Tim McDonagh, riding Jackie McDonagh’s Tick Tock Tina, surpassed Captains Call by going clear in 42.58 seconds.

The excitement was at fever pitch when Daren Hopkins and Leo Carey’s Mister Cruise took centre stage. Hopkins and his mount gave it their all and, encouraged by the spectators, performed a magnificent clear round in 37.85 and took the lead by just over two seconds.

At that stage, it looked as though the winner was already home and hosed, but Shane Dalton and Pat Prendergast’s Belfields Captain, the combination with the highest points on the leaderboard, 28, came into the ring and refused to be beaten.

The pair jumped a fantastic clear round and shaved 0.95 of a second off Hopkins’ time to take their third victory in the league.

Second place went to Daren Hopkins and Mister Cruise, third to Shane Dalton with Chimay and fourth to Sven Hadley with Quanbell.

Fifth place went to Tim McDonagh with Tick Tock Tina and sixth to Olive Clarke riding Captains Call, while seventh and eighth places were filled by Cormac Rafferty and Raphael Lee riding KMR Benzini and MB Daddys Dollars respectively.

The final of the league takes place today, Saturday, August 6th, at Aughrim Show.