RICHARD Howley collected his second international win of the Dublin Horse Show when he rode Chinook to the top spot in Saturday’s Royal Dublin Society Stakes 1.45m speed class.

Twenty eight combinations lined out and just 15 left all the fences intact. Howley was fastest in a time of 54.37 to secure the victory with the 15-year-old Tygo gelding owned by Hk Horses and Sarah Borthwick.

Speaking after the win he said: “Chinook is an amazing horse. I’ve had him since he was a nine-year-old and he has jumped clear rounds for me at Super League Nations Cups.

“He was fifth in the Dublin Grand Prix in 2019; I should have won that class that day only I made a mistake that cost us the class; that was a very sore one to have to bear even now.

“He’s had a break through Covid, he had a small injury at the back end of 2019 and I gave him a good bit of time off. He’s been back jumping small jumps for a long time and we’ve built him up brilliantly to go to Dublin.

“I’ve competed with him five times since he’s been back, and in four of them he’s been clear. So he’s doing great. He feels as good as he’s ever been; we’ve had such success together in the past it’s exciting to have him back.

“We bought him in England, he was actually eventing until he was nine, so he was a late starter. The plan now is to head to Brussels; we didn’t over jump them in Dublin so they are in pretty good shape heading to the five-star Rolex show so hopefully we continue to do well.”

Fellow Irish rider Jordan Coyle came closest to catching Howley and took the runner-up spot with Picador in 54.64.

Third went to Brazil’s Yuri Mansur and Away Semilly in 57.22, while Britain’s William Whitaker riding Jalellah OL were fourth. Fifth went to Mikey Pender and HHS Fortune, while Italy’s Lorenzo de Luca and Dirka de Blondel completed the top six.