AIDAN Killeen was best of the Irish representatives at the two-star fixture at Lier in Belgium over the weekend, when he rode the 13-year-old Irish Sport Horse stallion Inlaws Orinoco (Harlequin du Carel) into the runner-up spot in Sunday’s two-star 1.45m Grand Prix.
There were 62 starters in the class, with 12 jumping clear in round one to secure their place in the jump-off. Six of those were able to maintain a clean sheet within the allocated time in round two.
Killeen and his mount were double clear in a jump-off time of 43.27 seconds, just over a second off the pace of class winner Louis Le Grelle (BEL) on New Life van het Hellehof, who stopped the clock in 42.10.
Irish placings
Jumping at the two-star fixture at Lier commenced last Thursday, March 20th. Shane O’Reilly got the Irish ball rolling when he rode BWE Special Rose into fourth place from 67 participants in the 1.35m two-phase special class, with a double clear round in a jump-off time of 28.52 seconds. The class was won by Jules Denutte (BEL) on Little Engine Could (27.15). Meanwhile, in the 1.40m speed class, Vincent Byrne on Galwaybay Sparkie finished equal seventh, followed by Killeen on Inlaws Orinoco in 10th out of 53 starters.
O’Reilly then finished on the podium in the one-star five and six-year-old 1.05m/1.15m two-phase special, when he and Bossa Nova Boy finished second. Isabel Fitzpatrick on Just Stanley placed 10th in the class. O’Reilly then placed 10th of 92 participants in the one-star seven and eight-year-old 1.25m/1.30m two-phase special class riding BWE Windsor.
Friday’s one-star five and six-year-old 1.05m/1.15m speed class saw O’Reilly finish fifth on Bossa Nova Boy and 10th on Billy Hopper, while Emer Kavanagh finished seventh on MMS Alexa.
Byrne and Galwaybay Sparkie were back in the top 10 of the two-star 1.40m two-phase class, when their double clear in a phase two time of 30.42 earned them ninth place. Byrne then took third place in the one-star 1.10m two-phase special class on Cartier VDL, with Fitzpatrick on Hascombe George’s Star placing eighth. Niamh Devlin on the Irish Sport Horse gelding HHS Toronto came sixth in the one-star 1.20m two-phase special, with a double clear round in a phase two time of 27.46.
Saturday saw Emma O’Dwyer on Chelone Z finish ninth in the one-star final seven and eight-year-old 1.30m/1.35m jump-off class, while in the final five and six-year-old 1.05m/1.15m two-phase class, O’Reilly and Billy Hopper came fourth, Abigail Boland on Gorsevalley Camante were seventh and Byrne on GHS Chuck Bass were 10th.
On Sunday, O’Dwyer placed 10th with Rubetski in the one-star 1.30m Grand Prix, while Byrne placed fourth in the one-star 1.10m two-phase special on Cartier VDL, followed by Maddie Brennan on Monbeg Conspiracy in sixth.
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