NORMANDIE Horse Show was held at St Lo in France last week and saw top five placings for Irish rider, Seamus Hughes Kennedy.

The highlight of these was in Sunday’s three-star 1.55m Grand Prix, which saw Hughes Kennedy finish in fourth place riding the nine-year-old gelding ESI Rocky, bred by Ennisnag Stud and owned by Clare Hughes.

There were 43 on the start list for the class, with a surprising number (seven) retiring during the competition. Just nine jumped clear first time out to progress to the jump-off stage, where seven were able to repeat their performance.

Kilkenny’s Hughes Kennedy finished in a time of 48.67 seconds, less than two seconds behind French winner, Alexa Ferrer on Vitalhorse Naiade D’Elsendam Z (46.91).

ESI Rocky is an Irish Sport Horse gelding by Stakkato Gold out of Clonasle, by For Pleasure.

The talented rider had previously steered Castlefield Hera into fifth place in Saturday’s three-star 1.45m class, jumping double clear in a jump-off time of 40.67 seconds. From 52 starters, 16 combinations kept the fences all intact in the first round, but eight of those faulted in the jump-off.

Hughes Kennedy was among those who jumped clear again, but he was just over three seconds off the pace of French winner, Guillaume Batillat on Qapella Di Lino, who stopped the clock in 37.25 seconds.