NEW Zealand’s Samantha Lissington, who has been long-listed on the Kiwi Olympic squad, won the Bretland Construction CCI3*-L at the Sema Lease International at Kilguilkey.

Riding Delarado (Diarado x Handsome Stranger), Lissington led from the outset with a dressage score of 29.5 to which she added just 2.8 cross-country time penalties, finishing on a total of 32.3. The pair came to Kilguilkey off the back of an impressive 11th place finish at Millstreet in the CCI3*-S.

Speaking to The Irish Field, Lissington said she was thrilled with the win, given she is still establishing a relationship with the 10-year-old mare.

“I’ve actually only had the ride for three months. She was produced to intermediate level by Sophie Fouracre and Sophie’s now pregnant,” she explained.

“It’s actually Sophie’s neighbour, Kate Maitland, who owns her. They’ve been friends for a long time and when Sophie got pregnant, she was looking for a rider. Funnily enough, I had watched the mare a couple of years ago and I loved her so much that I had sent a message to Kate just to say what lovely horse she is.

“Then Kate messaged me when she was looking for a new rider and, of course, I was over the moon.

“We had our first three-star short at Millstreet and she was awesome. She did a really tidy test, coped with the ground conditions really well and had a lovely, clear show jumping round.

“She’s never actually run a long format before Kilguilkey, she’s never even done a two-star long, so I really didn’t know what type of a horse I’d have left on the last day or whether she’d go the distance for me, so it was actually all a bit of an unknown.

“She’s a very good show jumper and she’s really consistent on the flat, so I was confident that we could pull it all together for a good result, but there was a lot of question marks, so we came in with not huge expectations, but obviously she surpassed all of those and it was wonderful.

“When we got there, the ground was rock hard and we were thinking oh dear, but it was actually perfect going, we couldn’t have asked for better ground conditions.

“I enjoyed the questions on the course, particularly the distance within the water, that certainly had us thinking.”

Lissington said she is very excited about the mare and hopes to step her up to a four-star short before the end of the season.

“We really appreciate being able to come to Ireland and bring a range of horses at different levels and tick a lot of boxes in one weekend. We’ve always found the Irish people really friendly and welcoming and we like to reward that with our entries, coming back again every year.

“I’d like to make special mention of Sophie for producing her so beautifully, Kate for trusting me with her and to Kaitlyn Freeman, who was grooming there all week.”

Stubbington holds on

Second placed after dressage was Ireland’s Lucca Stubbington riding Quingenti, a 14-year-old thoroughbred by September Storm. This pair scored 31.8 in their dressage test, adding just four show jumping faults to finish on 35.8.

Ireland’s Danielle McCormick, who was equal third after dressage with Hildare SM Quentin (Quiwi Dream) on 32.1, added 6.4 cross-country time penalties to retain her position on 38.5. This gave them the advantage over Ireland’s Isny O’Donnell, who also scored 32.1 in her dressage riding Vital DK Z. O’Donnell, unfortunately, had 7.6 cross-country time penalties and was relegated to eventual fourth on a total of 39.7.

Ireland’s Ellen Douglas, who was fifth after dressage on 35.5 with Downshire Rock, also benefitted from being slightly quicker across the country than her nearest rival. Adding 13.2 cross-country time penalties and 12 show jumping faults, Douglas finished in fifth on 60.7. Britain’s Madison Peries finished in eventual sixth, despite having the same dressage score as Douglas. Cross-country time penalties amounting to 28 and four show jumping faults meant that she finished on a total of 67 with Vivero DH Z.