THE Irish Olympic team members and their mounts certainly made their presence felt in the Olympic Horse section at the CCI4*-S fixture at Aston Le Walls international horse trials in England over the weekend.

Austin O’Connor rode Colorado Blue, owned by The Salty Syndicate, to take the top spot in a fantastic performance, adding just a few time penalties in the jumping phases to their dressage score to finish on 39.80. Aoife Clark and Sportsfield Freelance were a close second on 41.00, followed by Sarah Ennis on Action Lady M in seventh on 49.80 and Susie Berry on Wellfields Lincoln in eighth on 51.30.

Speaking to The Irish Field at the Olympic press briefing in Dublin on Monday, Austin O’Connor said: “It was great to be with the lads in Aachen, we were trying to keep up with the show jumpers! Then, we won the pre-Olympic class yesterday (Sunday) in Aston, with Aoife [Clark] close on my tail, so it was another good day. Colorado Blue feels in great shape, we haven’t taken our foot off the gas, we have been competitive all year, he is ready to go.”

With such a great run out for all, alongside a podium finish at Aachen Nations Cup, the Irish squad deserve to be feeling confident.

Four-star

Meanwhile, in the four-star class, Lucy Latta and RCA Patron Saint repeated their Badminton runner-up position when finishing second. Latta and her mount performed well in all three phases and, with nothing to add in either show jumping or cross-country, they finished on their dressage score of 29.5. They were the only combination to finish within the time on the cross-country, while eventual winner Britain’s Piggy March on Halo incurred 1.20 time penalties to give them a final score of 27.80.

Padraig McCarthy had a great run out too, finishing fifth on 39.40 with the Irish Sport Horse Rossdarragh Nero, a 10-year-old gelding by Tullibards Bennys Legacy (OLD) out of Brockagh Courage (ISH) by Courage II (HOL), bred by Denis Delaney, Co Tipperary and owned by Lorraine Dunn.