NICOLE Kershaw won the highly competitive 1.35m Ulster Region Grand Prix at The Meadows last Saturday when a field of 79 lined out to take their chance in the £1,500 class.

Some 31 combinations produced a first round clear. Kershaw rode Keonan Stables’ eight-year-old mare Clovalent to the fastest of eight double clears in 42.83 to secure the win. The Valent-sired mare was bred in Co Kildare by Mary McCann out of Cruising May Clover (Cruising).

Another eight-year-old, Harold Lusk’s Boss Quality (OBOS Quality x Clover Fields), ridden by Emma McEntee, took the runner-up prize when stopping the clock at 44.52.

Second mount

Edward Doyle guided Renkum A’Toast (Cheers Cassini x Jalisco B) into third place in 46.93, while Kershaw and her second mount, Lisa Rosbotham’s Belgian-bred gelding Lotus Van’t Nachtegalehof, was fourth in 47.30.

The Minister for Defence’s eight-year-old gelding Derrycush (Emerald Van’t Ruytershof x Aldato), ridden by Captain Charlene Kehoe, slotted into fifth. Leah Stack took sixth place with GBBS Ltd’s eight-year-old Olivia De Muze (EL Torreo De Muze x Lord Z).