Monaghan is March Star of the Month

SEAN Monaghan is the GAIN Equine Nutrition/ The Irish Field Star of the Month for March.

Monaghan certainly made his presence felt at the Andalucia Sunshine Tour in Vejer de la Frontera, Spain, during the course of the month. He started well, taking runner-up spot in a 1.45m class with L-Piccola, where they were a mere 0.05 seconds behind the winner!

The following week, Monaghan secured second and seventh placings in a Seven-year-old 1.30m class, with Tiberio Della Caccia and Coco Du Rona Z respectively, while the next day he rode Tiberio Della Caccia to win the same class. The pair followed this with a third place the day after, while on the concluding day of that week’s competitions, Monaghan rode Cornet Clover Girl (ISH) into second place in the Medium Tour 1.40m class.

Monaghan’s form continued the week after, when he and Cornet Clover Girl were runners-up in a 1.45m two-phase class. He and Tiberio Della Caccia won another Seven-year-old 1.30m class.

On the concluding week of the Sunshine Tour, Monaghan and Tiberio Della Caccia won a Seven-year-old 1.35m class and was runner-up in a Small Tour 1.45m class with L-Piccola.

Monaghan’s consistency with his team of horses is impressive and they are sure to flourish from the experience. Keep up the good work, Sean!

Hunter trials rescheduled

THE rescheduled Louth Hunt hunter trials take place on Bank Holiday Monday, May 6th, at the popular venue of Tatteralls Ireland.

All the usual classes are listed – open singles, open pairs, novice pairs, novice singles, pre-novice pairs and pre-novice singles – over courses set at heights of 1m (open), 90cms (novice) and 70/80cms (pre-novice).

These hunter trials provide a great opportunity for Irish Pony Club members to ride around Tattersalls in advance of the start of the Connolly’s Red Mills/IPC eventing season, while the venue is, of course, where the championships will be held in late August.

To aid administration on the day, competitors are asked to email their NHSPFS waivers to lhcwaivers@gmail.com

Irish on form at Chard

IRELAND’S Mikey Pender had a super weekend at Chard in the UK, where he took on mainly British opposition to secure two wins, including the CSI2* Big Tour Longines Ranking 1.45m Grand Prix on Sunday.

From 60 starters, only nine managed to keep all the fences standing within the allotted time in the first round and progress to the jump-off, with seven jumping double clear. Pender and nine-year-old grey mare HHS Cornetta rode a foot-perfect jump-off in a speedy time of 33.18 seconds to claim the top spot. Britain’s William Whittaker and Chacco’s Lando weren’t far behind and took the runner-up slot with a time of 33.47.

HHS Cornetta is by Cornet Obolensky (BWP) out of HHS Acorado (ISH) by Acorado (HOLST), was bred by Marion Hughes and is owned by Bravo Hughes Ltd.

Patrick Hickey placed fifth in the class with Casago II, while Anthony Condon on Oviedo ‘S’ finished seventh.

Pender had already taken a win in the CSI2* Medium Tour 1.35m class on Saturday on board HHS Cyprus, with Anthony Condon on SFS Houdini in third.

Competitions commenced last Thursday and saw Hickey on Corraghoe Red take first place in the CSI2* Medium Tour 1.35m class, while on Friday, Niamh Devlin on Captain Marko won the CSI1* Bronze Tour 1.10m class and Condon on Zira vh Kapelhof Z won the CSI2* Medium Tour 1.35m class, followed by Jessica Burke on Billy Be Boss in fourth.

Mediterranean tour success

AT the Mediterranean Equestrian Tour at Oliva in Spain, Tipperary’s Trevor Breen and the 12-year-old gelding Highland President, owned by Heather Black, were runners-up in the three-star 1.50m Grand Prix on Sunday.

Out of 51 starters, Breen’s double clear and jump-off time of 39.04 wasn’t quite fast enough to catch German winner Christian Kukuk with Nice Van’T Zorgvliet, who stopped the clock in 36.57.

Deirdre Reilly and Derryglen Othello came fifth in the class with a double clear round.

Von Eckermann reigns at Riyadh

WHILE Irish riders didn’t feature at the 2024 Longines FEI World Cup Finals in Riyadh, EIC Up Too Jacco Blue (ISH), bred by Mark Sherry in Co Wicklow, secured a seventh place finish under Austria’s Max Kuhner. The pair were among just four combinations who jumped double clear at the final contest.

Ireland’s Richard Howley and Equine America Consulent de Prelet Z decided not to jump in the final leg of the competition and, in a social media post, Howley praised his horse and thanked his team and owners for helping him to reach that level of competition.

The 2024 Longines FEI Jumping World Cup Final Champion title went to Sweden’s Henrik von Eckermann and King Edward for the second year running.