EDDIE Moloney and his ever consistent gelding Temple Alice captured victory in the third round of the SJI Autumn Grand Prix league in Coilóg last Saturday afternoon.

Some 30 combinations lined out for the feature class at the Kildare venue. Of these, just half a dozen managed to produce a clear first round to progress to the jump-off.

Moloney proved fastest of these as the best of the five double clears, stopping the clock at 37.12 seconds for the win and the lion’s share of the €3,000 on offer.

By Foxglen Cruise Control out of Innishannon Shamrock (Rantis Diamond), the 10-year-old gelding has been with Moloney since he was six years old. Prior to that he was ridden and produced by Tholm Keane.

Following the win, Moloney told The Irish Field: “We are delighted with the win. He has been a great horse for me, and now also for my daughter Emily.

“They were fifth in the young rider championships in Dublin this year and they were on the bronze medal-winning team in Kronenberg the week before last.

“He’s a great horse for both of us and that makes it very enjoyable. He is naturally quick. He won the six-year-olds in Dublin and has gone on to win a lot of classes for me. Emily finds him easy to ride already which is fantastic.

“I’m not really sure where I made up the time yesterday. We were so close at the top, I didn’t think I was overly fast; I think maybe I was a little bit tighter from the second last back to the final fence; I may have made it up there.

“The plan now is he will do some more of the Autumn league with myself and maybe Emily will ride in a couple of them.

“I will jump him in Cavan and then maybe at the back end of the year we might take him away for a few shows.

“Emily is in third year, she’ll be 15 in December. She still has another year in ponies. Anna is my younger daughter. She is 11 and she’s jumping 138cms already and she’s quite keen so it’s a bit hectic trying to get everyone organised.

“I coach them myself and lately Denis Flannelly has been doing a bit with Emily and that’s going well,” said Moloney.

Impressive

Patrick Hickey and Catriona Fallon’s eight-year-old mare Emelee (Emerald Van’t Ruytershof x Lux Z) took second place, breaking the finish beams just slightly slower than Moloney in 37.25.

This was an impressive result for the pair who were competing in their first 1.40m competition together.

Gemma Phelan, riding her own eight-year-old Beechfields Billy Barnwell (Billy Mexico x Vechta), was third in a time of 40.95. Phelan also took fourth place, this time with Limestone Paddock’s nine-year-old mare Limestone Briarhill Lui (Kings Cornet x Luidam) in 42.60.

Moloney slotted into fifth place aboard his second mount, Niall Greene’s eight-year-old gelding Damma Kannan Supreme (Kannan x Camiro De Haar Z).

The sixth and final place went to the Numero Uno x Cruising stallion Numero Cruise with Daren Hopkins in the saddle for owner Leo Carey.

Philip Carey and his eight-year-old Quidamiro Denfer (Quidam De Revel x Clarimo) just missed out on a place in the timed decider when they collected a single time fault in round one.

Kayleigh Soden and ARD Leaderman (Luidam x Ard VDL Douglas) made the same mistake in the first round and they too missed out on the chance to jump-off.

The next and fourth round of the Autumn league takes place in Eglinton Equestrian Centre tomorrow (Sunday).