CSF Olympic Jewel, ridden by 16-year-old Gary Dooley, won the second round of the TRM Showjumpers Club Spring Tour in Broadmeadows last Sunday.

Bred by Brian Connolly, the eight-year-old mare is by My Lord Carthago, out of Olympic Clover, by Clover Hill.

Owned by Gary’s Dad Declan, he purchased her at the end of 2021 from Shane Goggins, who had produced her as a four and five-year-old. Goggins recorded some impressive results with her, including top-10 placings in the four-year-old final at the Irish Breeders Classic, as well as in the Cavan Champions of the year final.

As a five-year-old, she placed in several rounds of the Irish Studbook Series and took sixth place in the prestigious Cavan Crystal Grand Final.

Dooley took over the ride and earned several top-five places in 1.20m and 1.30m classes, before progressing to wins at 1.30m and 1.35m and a third place in the 1.40m Autumn Grand Prix in October last year. This is the duo’s first senior Grand Prix win.

Speaking after the win, he told The Irish Field: “I’m delighted with how she went. I was first to go in the jump-off, so I had to stay as tight as I could. There was nowhere really I could gallop because the arena was small and everything was close. At the final line, I think everyone else did nine and I got there in eight, so that made up some time.

“She can turn on a sixpence, she’s very balanced, and you can open up her stride, and she can take out a stride if you need her to. She may not look that fast, but she’s covering a lot of ground.

“The plan is to do another few spring tour classes and then hopefully I’ll get to jump on a couple of Junior Nations Cup teams after that.

“I’m in my Leaving Cert year in school, I turn 17 next week. I hope to stick with show jumping after I’ve finished school.

“As well as the few horses I have at home, I also ride for Paul Duffy. I ride eight or 10 for him and I had two of them, Luidam’s Flame and O’Connell Sport Horse’s OCS Tolan (Tolan R x Touchdown) in the Grand Prix yesterday, and then the rest of them are just youngsters.

“I was out with his son, Micheal, at his base in England last October, and he comes home often and will train me, so that’s great.

“Looking forward, I think Olympic Jewel has plenty of potential, she jumped 1.45m in Sentower in Belgium with me last year and she coped really well and was comfortable, so I feel she could definitely go on to do more.

“We’ll be in Cavan next weekend. Then I will give her the following weekend off, and then I’ll make a plan after that. Sentower Youth Nations Cup is at the start of April and we will be hoping to do that, we will just have to wait and see if it works out.”

Sven Hadley and Topspin, winners of the The Custom Crew 1.20m at the TRM Spring Tour at Broadmeadows \ Rolf Stenberg jumpinaction.net

Strong field

Some 20 combinations lined out for the 1.35m sponsored by APM at the Co Meath venue. Five of these had a single fence down for four faults, while one, Brendan Murphy and Hugh Fitzpatrick’s Erne Riverrun collected a single time fault to keep them from progressing to the timed decider.

Four combinations posted a first round clear to battle it out against the clock. First to go was Dooley and CSF Olympic Jewel. They produced a second foot-perfect performance in a time of 37.03 to set the pace.

Next in was Annabel Shields and her own eight-year-old gelding Lapstan (OBOS Quality 004 x Drumagoland Lancelot). They too left all the poles in place, but in a cautious time of 42.91 for eventual fourth place.

Third in was another eight-year-old, James P Kavanagh’s Clonagoose Sky Bouncer with Ruairí Aylward in the saddle.

By Killinick Bouncer, out of Laura Dubh, by Scribano, she was bred by Michael Kavanagh and has been ridden by Aylward since May 2022.

They also kept a clean sheet throughout, stopping the clock just ahead of Shields in 41.15 for third place.

Last to go was Niamh O’Connor Barry and her own gelding Drumiller Vegas. Also eight years old, he is by Cardento, out of Meabh’s Clover, by Rockhill Clover and was bred by Paul Dillon.

They came closest to catching the leader, breaking the finish beams in 39.20 to claim the runner-up spot.

The next round of the Spring Tour takes place tomorrow, February 25th, in Cavan Equestrian Centre.

Craig Hopkins (YR) and BEC Karina, winners of the Gain Horse Feed 1.10m class at the TRM Spring Tour at Broadmeadows \ Rolf Stenberg jumpinaction.net

Custom Crew 1.20m

In the other feature class of the day, the Custom Crew 1.20m, Sven Hadley dominated, taking first place aboard his own Swedish-bred mare Topspin, and third with his stallion HSH Harper du Seigneur (Aganix Du Seigneur x Chippison).

Sandwiched between Hadley’s two mounts in second place was Annabel Shields riding Raw Interiors Belgian-bred mare Jessy Van De Heide.

Fourth place went to young rider Jazmine Arthur and Karen Kerr’s All That Jazz (Jack of Diamonds X Master Imp), while Shields slotted into fifth aboard her other mount, the seven-year-old B.E Flygold (Stakkato Gold x Ballypatrick Flight).

Junior Ruby Lily Gaines completed the line-up in sixth with Castle Lux Clover (Boherdeal Clover x Lux Z).