BRENDAN Murphy captured the lion’s share of the €5,000 on offer at the final round of the Gain/Alltech National Grand Prix league in Tipperary last Sunday.

Riding Helen O’Regan and John Hoyne’s nine-year-old gelding City, Murphy saw off stiff competition from 26 starters to prove best of the 11-strong jump-off and claim the win. Galway rider Tim MacDonagh was crowned the overall league winner at the venue.

Speaking after the victory, Murphy said: “I’m delighted with him. This is the first time we’ve really asked him to go against the clock and he handled it really well.

“I’ve only been riding him for about two months now, I think he’s a really good horse with a big future ahead of him. His rideability is very good. He’s after coming on in leaps and bounds over the past two months. I’ve brought him up to the next level recently and he handled it really well.

“Dan Geaney produced him over the year or so before we got him and did a great job. Our plan now is to continue with the 1.40m classes and educate him a bit more; he’s still quite green, especially against the clock, so we want to concentrate on bringing him on.

“He’s never been asked any real questions so we want to produce and educate him further with a view to hopefully going to some three-star shows away next spring. Ultimately we’d like him to be considered for some Nations Cups teams, that’s the big goal. He is talented and is definitely going in the right direction so that’s very exciting for us.

“We’ll do Mullingar and Cavan and then Balmoral, one week on, one week off with him. He’s quite sharp that’s why we have taken our time with him but he feels ready to take anything on now.”

League decided

Despite the Gain/Alltech overall league having been decided in advance of the final round, with Tim MacDonagh’s 48-point lead impossible to catch, each of the combinations put their best foot forward.

Tom Holden had set a challenging 1.40m course consisting of 13 jumps and 16 efforts. Murphy had the advantage of being well down the start list as 20th to go so was able to watched plenty go before him and produced a foot-perfect clear in round one to add his name to the list of 11 to go forward to the timed decider.

Those that didn’t make it included Captain Charlene Kehoe who just missed out when collecting a single time fault aboard the Minister for Defence’s gelding Carnlea (Ars Vivendi x Olympic Lux).

A further five riders had one fence on the ground for four faults, while two more had a fence down plus one time for five.

Junior rider Molly Hughes Bravo opened proceedings against clock, riding her father Miguel Bravo’s Casanova Van Overis Z (Casper Van Erpekom Z x Nonstop), the usual mount of Mikey Pender. They had two fences on the ground for eight faults and finished in 11th place.

Captain Geoff Curran was second with Mill House Stud-bred MHS Gabhran (Cardento x Diamant De Semilly), owned by the Minister for Defence. They left all the fences intact in a time of 50.98 to set the standard and eventually finished fourth place.

Francis Derwin Jnr qualified three horses for the jump-off and went first aboard Jim Derwin’s Deep Pocket (OBOS Quality x Cruising), bred by Charles Pidgeon. They were unlucky to have one fence down in the fastest time of the day (45.66) which was good enough for sixth place.

Seamus Hughes Kennedy and Cuffesgrange Cavadora (Z Wellie 72 x Luidam), bred by Eamon Sheehan and owned by Clare Hughes, had two down for eight faults and 10th place, before Susan Fitzpatrick, aboard Louise Quinn’s nine-year-old gelding Ted Talks (Harlequin Du Carel x Cruising), posted a clear round in 50.43 to slot into third place.

Stephen Murphy and Chantelle (Lux Z x Errigal Flight), owned by Brian Murphy, then matched Fitzpatrick’s clear but in a slower time of 53.54 for fifth.

Seventh to go was Brendan Murphy with the handsome grey gelding City (Cicero Z x Contefine). A foot-perfect round complete with economical turns and a forward pace saw the pair stop the clock at 48.89 and go straight into the lead.

Derwin and his second mount, his own Killerisk Can Ya (Can Ya Makan x Mermus R), were next up to try to catch Murphy. They gave it a good go but one fence down in a time of 49.86 meant they had to settle for seventh.

Edward Doyle and Lisa Cawley’s home-bred Flexability (Flex A Bill x Diamond Lad) came closest to catching the leader when they broke the beams in 49.19 for second place.

Francis Connors and the eight-year-old Erne Riverrun (Antaeus x Aldatus Z), owned by Hugh Fitzpatrick, had one fence down and one time fault, while last to go Francis Dewin and Whiterock Cruise Down finished with eight faults in ninth place.

Champion

While he didn’t feature on Sunday, Tim MacDonagh and Hollypark Galloway were crowned the Gain/Alltech National Grand Prix league winners. Owned by Tim’s mother, Jackie Lee, the 11-year-old gelding by Castelawn Galloway was bred by John McCann.

During the 19 rounds of the league, held mostly behind closed doors due to the pandemic during the summer, MacDonagh won one round in Galway, was second at the first round in The Meadows and placed in six further rounds to accumulate a total of 48 points, 15 ahead of his closest rival Francis Derwin (Deep Pockets) on 33. Francis Connors (CSF James Kann Cruz) was third on 32, while John Floody (Accidental Diamond) was fourth on 28.

“I’m very happy with my horse (Hollypark Galloway), he’s been very consistent all summer,” MacDonagh said afterwards.

“This win isn’t just for me but for my entire team; my Mum has been at practically every show and we do a lot of work training the horses at home. Joe Sharkey gives me great help and I’ve been training with Denis Flannelly since this time last year.

“I’ve had Hollypark Galloway since he was a foal and have produced him through the ranks. He feels like he has more to give; he’s been very consistent at this level (1.40m) but also at 1.50m so I’m hoping we can maybe go away this year to some ranking shows.

“We had a very good start to the league with a win at my home town show in Galway. I didn’t really start chasing the league until I went into the lead.

“Having Gain and Alltech on board as sponsors for the league is fantastic, and I think all the riders would agree with me that all the venues involved and the organisers did a great job under sometimes difficult circumstances this year.”

Ladies championship

Sunday’s other feature class was the Horseware Ladies Championship which boasted a €3,000 prize fund. The class was won by in-form amateur rider Aileen McDermott riding her own mare Amber Balou (Baloubet du Rouet x Don Juan de la Bouverie).

A total of 46 riders lined out, with just nine managing a double clear round. McDermott was fastest of these in 30.35.

Laura Connors was runner-up aboard her German-bred gelding Lantino 31 in 31.08, while third went to Leonie Dunne and another German-bred gelding, Cavalino 26, in 31.59.

Fourth place went to Lisa Doyle riding Corland’s Clipper in 32.59, while the eight-year-old mare Ballinaquilkey Heritage (Heritage Fortunus x Ramiro B) with Laura Walshe in the saddle were fifth.

Marie Hertley and another eight-year-old mare, the Belgian-bred Nikita Van Het Heidenhof, completed the line-up in sixth place.