IRISH international Padraig McCarthy brought four horses to Ballindenisk for four different classes, none finished worse than sixth, with MGH Zabaione running out the narrow winner of the Only Fitness CCI3*-S.

“The horses were all good and I came away very happy,” commented McCarthy from his MGH Sporthorses’ yard in Devon. “All bar the winner completed on their dressage score and I was particularly pleased with Pomp N Circumstance finishing sixth in the 4*-S, as he was a bit on his toes in the dressage phase.

“The time for the short-format classes was tight enough I suppose, but we are more used to that over here. The ground was good and the courses rode well. They were somewhat old-fashioned with fences in the hedgelines, which horses here wouldn’t be used to, but they were something new and educational.”

Twenty-eight horses started in the 3*-S and all finished apart from Clonalkilty Bay, who was withdrawn by Sian Coleman before Sunday’s cross-country phase. Coleman was one of four riders to pick up jumping penalties over the fixed fences, doing so on Kilroe Frolic, who had competed at 2* level at Thoresby Park last month.

“We were going quite fast and it was just a little mistake, but he has to learn his trade at this level and I’ll run him in the 3*-S at Millstreet,” said Coleman of the eight-year-old Cavalier Land gelding, who had been lying second (28.8) after dressage and a clear show jumping round. The leaders, Steven Smith and Fleur Du Lis (28) also dropped out of contention with a problem across the country. Smith had some consolation in finishing fifth on Strangford (40.6), a place behind Robbie Kearns on RCA Royal Summer (39.6).

The main target this season for the Irish Sport Horse MGH Zabaione, whose winning total of 36.2 included 5.2 cross-country time penalties, is the eight and nine-year-old class (CCI4*-S) at Blenheim in September and, depending on how he comes out of that, he may go for the 4*-L at Boekelo the following month. Taking a long-term view, the owner/rider also mentioned the 2026 world championships in Aachen and the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.

Breeding partnership

A flashy 2016 son of Zavall VDL, MGH Zabaione was purchased in utero when McCarthy sourced his dam, Viancara VDL, from VDL. Most of the mare’s foals since then have McCarthy listed as breeder, apart from last year’s filly, Vancara Carrickview, who is down to Armagh equine reproduction veterinary surgeon John Haughey, with whom McCarthy has a breeding partnership. In Tipperary, the rider’s father Tom is expecting a full-sibling to MGH Zabaione to be dropped in the next couple of weeks.

With cross-country time penalties, Kilkenny-based British international John Tilley, winner of the weekend’s White’s Agri leading rider award, finished second, third and sixth on his three rides – the Dutch Warmblood gelding Licence To Cooley (37.2), the Go For Gold graduate Trend De La Cruise (37.4), an ISH mare by Future Trend, and Bango (40.7), an ISH gelding by Garrison Royal.

Generous sponsors

Sponsorship of web photographs by Equus Pix was much appreciated by competitors, who had Defender to thank for providing such support at Ballindenisk last weekend.

The rugs presented to each winner were sponsored by the Cork firm Bucas, while British company Keyflow Feeds, whose in-house veterinary surgeon and support in Ireland is now Kilkenny-based event rider Rosie Alcorn, sponsored a prize for the highest-placed Irish rider in each of the eight classes.

The Treo Eile prize for the highest-placed thoroughbred over the weekend was won by Operation Overload, which finished 11th in the Johnson & Perrott Land Rover CCI1* -Intro. The 11-year-old Oscar gelding, who ran three times in the 2018/’19 point-to-point season when trained by Enda Bolger for J.P. McManus, was partnered by his owner, amateur rider Cathal Murphy.