EDWARD Doyle Jnr rode his father Edward Doyle’s nine-year-old gelding Quick Bill to the top-spot in the fifth round of the Autumn Grand Prix league in Tipperary last Saturday.

By Flex A Bill out of Nalmund De La Tourette (Quick Star), the home-bred was produced by Edward’s father up to 1.35m and Edward Jnr took over the ride in July last year. As the only double-clear round in the 1.40m two-phase class, the Kildare rider took the lion’s share of the €3,000 prize fund.

Speaking after the win, Doyle said; “We’re delighted with the win. We were the only double clear, which I was a bit surprised about. It was a nice track which rode well but it turned out to be a little bit trickier than it walked and caught a lot of people out.

“It’s a great facility down there in Tipperary and despite a big downpour before the class, the footing drained well and remained good throughout.

“Myself and Dad have kind of produced this horse (Quick Bill) together. I rode him as a seven-year-old and then Dad brought him on a little more after that and now I’m competing him. He has maybe taken a little longer than others to get to the stage he’s at now, and many would say that is no surprise with his breeding.

“It can take the Flex A Bill/Quick Star horses a bit longer but he is feeling better than ever now and ready to go on further. He’s been quite consistent in the past few months.

“He is the second foal we bred from that mare. Her first foal, Flex Star, we sold to the USA and he is jumping 1.35m out there. We also have a five-year-old which we are very excited about so we’ll look forward to seeing how that progresses. It looks like one of our nicer ones.”

Future plans

Doyle added: “The plan now is to head to Portmore next weekend and do a few more of the Autumn Grand Prix league. Then hopefully we may get a trip away and do maybe one or two two-star shows before the Christmas break.

“Going forward it would be nice to do a tour in the Spring, get some good results and look towards the development squad and the three-star Nations Cup teams.”

Just four combinations managed to produce a clear first round. They included Junior rider Timmy Brennan with the eight-year-old GCS Ita (OBOS Quality x MHS Attraction), Olive Clarke and GBBS Int Ltd’s nine-year-old mare Ballerina Girl DVO Z (Bisquet Balou VD Mispelaere x Palestro VD Begijnakke) and Brendan Murphy riding Hugh Fitzpatrick’s Rene Riverrun (Antaeus x Aldatus Z).

Brennan was fastest of these in 42.31 to claim the runner-up spot. Clarke stopped the clock just 0.40 slower in 42.71 for third place.

Murphy had two fences down for eight faults and slotted into fourth. Liam O’Meara and James O’Sullivan’s Lux Trendy (Future Trend x Lux Z) were the fastest four-faulters from round one and took fifth, while Brennan and his second mount, MHS Jersey Girl (Cardento x Quidam Junior 1), completed the line-up in sixth.