A YEAR after a devastating fire resulted in the death of two horses at his yard, Donegal show jumper Kenneth Graham bounced back to win the €10,000 Horse Sport Ireland International Show Jumping Challenge.

Victory in the Cavan International Grand Prix on Sunday evening, which bagged him another €2,640 in prize money, brought him full circle, almost exactly a year after a blaze tore through Lenamore Stables in Muff.

Two horses died in the blaze and five more were saved by his girlfriend, Megan McGettigan, his groom, who won a €1,000 bonus at the weekend.

“It was tough to come back,” Graham said this week. “We had a lot of great friends and family to thank for getting us back to where we were. We got back up and running as quickly as we could.

“It was nice to win a year on from that. For Megan, too, as she had to go in and take the five horses out. She got burned in the fire and had to get treatment. She saved a lot. Ten more minutes and all of the horses could have died.

“She works so hard in the yard. She got the Groom of the Year award a little while after that, which she deserved. It was nice for her at the weekend to be rewarded too.”

Graham revealed that the damage by last year’s inferno could have been much worse, but for the quick intervention. “Ten minutes more and we could have lost much more. At the far side of the shed, there were 60 bales of straw. The whole place could have gone up.”

Bonus

Graham was the only rider eligible for the bonus - awarded for three podium places in the international Grands Prix in Millstreet, Balmoral, Mullingar and Cavan - and he did it in style aboard the nine-year-old grey Beir Bua who was bred by the late Harold McGahern. This was the second year of the HSI initiative but the show jumping bonus was not won in 2018.

“We had a great year,” he said. “Beir Bua is a nine-year-old, but doesn’t have much experience. It was nice to do it on a horse that we produced. That was Beir Bua’s first international Grand Prix.

“That’s the season over now. It was a great year in the end. The bonus is a new thing that has started and it’s brilliant to keep riders competing. It won’t be won too often I’d say because you need three podiums from the four events.”

Graham paid tribute to his family and friends for their support and also hailed the influence of Swiss pair Regula and Haymbert Wassmer, from Zurich, who have been invaluable.

After staying on home soil this season, Graham has earmarked the show in Oliva, Spain, as a target for early next year. “We always try and get away to compete two or three times a year. With everything else we had going on we didn’t go this year, but definitely we want to get on the road again in 2020.”