CEIDE Candy Heart and junior rider Stephen Gibbons won Saturday evening’s featured Hankook six and seven-year-old final at the Cavan Indoor Championships. Offering a lucrative prize fund of €8,500, 41 combination came through to the final from two qualifiers earlier in the week at the venue.

Over three rounds, Gibbons and the six-year-old, who is owned by his mother Jane, were the fastest of six triple clear rounds.

Speaking after the win, Gibbons told The Irish Field about his mount. “We bought him from the breeder as a three-year-old down in James Joyce’s yard getting ready to go to the three-year-old qualifier. My dad (Tommy) saw him and liked him, so we bought him,” the winner explained.

“He’s by Garryduff Jar of Hearts, who stands just five minutes away from us. He’s out of Candy Boy mare Ceide Heather Honey and was bred by Elaine and Mary Walsh from Ballycastle in Mayo. We broke him ourselves and produced him all the way up. He has had a very good year, most recently winning the development class in Mullingar last week.

“He’s been knocking on the door to win one of these big young horse classes for a while now. He was unlucky in Millstreet; he had a pole down in the Boomerang, and he was just unlucky not to qualify for Dublin this year. But he deserves this win.

“Rideability is something I like to concentrate on with all my horses. His wasn’t exactly where I would have liked at the start of this year, so I’ve been working on it a lot. He has definitely come into himself and his rideability was perfect in Cavan. Nothing fazes him. He was in Dublin as a four-year-old and as a five-year-old. He did the young horse classes in Valkenswaard in the big international grass Tops arena there and none of it bothered him.”

Gibbons continued: “We were first to go in the jump-off on Saturday. A lot of people prefer to go last, but my dad is a big believer in going first and putting the pressure on the others. He had jumped two good clears and I thought I wasn’t going to leave it behind me. I wouldn’t go silly fast, but would try to keep the pressure on.

“He was just consistent everywhere. He was good from one to two and his turn backs were good. He is naturally quick across the ground. There was a couple that nearly caught me, but I had a bit of luck on the day.

“The plan now is to do a couple more of the development series, and maybe another Cavan towards the end of the year, if there’s a class that suits him. We’ll see about going abroad. What he is doing now is big enough for him at the moment. He feels very scopey and careful. He does it very easy, you never have to put too much pressure on him.

“I think the step-up next year to the seven-year-olds should be easy enough. I think whatever he ends up doing, he’ll be good; he’ll be a winner at it.”

First to go

Just 10 of the starting 41 produced a clear first round to progress to the second round. And, of those, six remained fault-free to go forward to the timed jump-off.

Gibbons was first to go with Ceide Candy Heart. A superb clear in a time of 35.22 set the pace for the remaining five combinations to chase.

Shane Kenny and his own Paul Schockemöhle-bred Chacoon Cherry PS (Chacoon Blue x Robin II Z) came closest to catching the leader when they broke the beams in 35.86 for the runner-up spot.

Sligo’s Richard Kerins was next, aboard Jennifer Crowley’s home-bred gelding Realteens Orestus (Orestus x Cruising). They left all the poles in place, stopping the clock at 35.98 for eventual third place.

Regula Wassmer’s Belmondo (KEC Maximum Joe x Voltaire), bred by Enda Corry and ridden by Megan McGettigan, managed to leave all the fences intact in 36.58, which put them into fourth place.

Junior rider Aidan O’Brien riding Daniel Coyle’s Dutch-bred mare Nahla (Arezzo VDL x Voltaire) produced a triple clear round in 38.50 to claim fifth place. Cavan’s own Jamie Clarke and Aisling Doherty’s Sydney PMD (Quidam Junior x Cumano), bred by Patrick O’Dea, slotted into sixth as the fastest of the four-faulters in 33.74.