LESS than a week after Ireland won five medals at the WBFSH World Breeding Championships for Young Horses in Lanaken, Irish show jumpers got off to a flying start at the inaugural WBFSH Studbooks Jumping Global Champions Trophy at the Longines Tops International Arena in Valkenswaard, The Netherlands, on Thursday when finishing first and second in the eight-year-old qualifier.

Commandant Geoff Curran and DHF Alliance (ARD VDL Douglas x Lux Z), bred by Paul Douglas, led home the one-two finish when he galloped to a double clear in a time of 26.73 ahead of German-based Mayo man Jonathan Gordon with CBI Karhari (Goodluck VDL x Kroongraaf), bred by Aidan Carroll.

This first qualifier was run as an individual class with the overall scores from the best four results counting towards the placings of the competing studbooks. Speaking after the class, chef d’equipe Taylor Vard said: “It was an amazing start by the riders and their horses here today. Everyone is delighted after it and the whole team is on a high. Hopefully the rest of the day will continue in the same fashion.”

Unbeatable

Some 24 hours later, Comdt. Curran and DHF Alliance once again proved unbeatable in the 1.45m eight-year-old qualifier. A stunning clear round in 66.82 seconds saw Curran finish almost three seconds ahead of his nearest challenger, Denmark’s Emil Hallundbaek with Calfrafi DWB.

Waterford’s Paddy O’Donnell finished sixth with WEC Mermus Rua (Mermus R x Abalou Verte), bred in Co Longford by Ray Brown.

Ireland’s eight-year-olds have qualified for tomorrow’s (Sunday) final in second place behind the KWPN studbook, which means they will be second last to go when all the teams will again start on a score of zero.

In the five-year-olds, the ISH studbook was in fifth place after the two qualifiers while the second round of both the six-year-olds and the seven-year-olds take place today (Saturday).