IRELAND’S Niall Talbot and the 12-year-old mare Deep Sea Semilly saw off all the competition in Thursday’s 1.30m Gold class at Oliva, when they jumped clear in a time of 61.70 seconds. From a start list of 67, there were 38 clear rounds, with Talbot the fastest of these to take the win.

Talbot was back on top of the podium on Sunday, when he won the 1.30m Gold class also with Deep Sea Semilly, jumping clear in a time of 59.42. There was a smaller starting field of 18 combinations, but Talbot was the decisive winner, finishing more than two seconds ahead of French runner-up Marine Bouton on Hashtag du Breche (61.78).

Placings

Week one of the Spring Mediterranean Equestrian Tour at Oliva, Spain, was held last week, running from Tuesday, January 27th through until Sunday, February 2nd.

Talbot placed fifth in Thursday’s 1.40m Gold two-phase class on FTS Elliot, with a double clear round and a time of 27.50 in phase two.

The day’s 1.25m Silver class saw Talbot finish fifth again, this time on board Helios CH in a time of 60.65. This pair went on to take eighth place in Friday’s equivalent. Talbot claimed another fifth place in the 1.45m Gold Grand Prix qualifier riding Doris de l’Oiseliere, when clear in 67.19.

Saturday saw a runner-up placing for Talbot and Deep Sea Semilly in the 1.30m Gold two-phase. The pair jumped double clear in a phase two time of 28.42 seconds and were only beaten by Belgium’s Mathieu Guery on Best Friend Hero Z (27.43). Meanwhile, in the day’s 1.30m Silver class, Talbot and Helios CH placed fourth when clear in 59.53.