DIARMUID Howley certainly made his presence felt in Warsaw, Poland over the weekend, with several placings on various horses. The highlight came in Saturday’s 1.45m Medium Tour final, when Howley won the class on board Absolute Du Mio, riding double clear in a jump-off time of 36.01 seconds.

There were 48 on the start list, of whom 14 combinations kept all the poles in place in round one, with nine managing to jump double clear. The top three finished less than a second apart, with German riders Robin Naeve on Casalia R (36.60) and Lesley Wulff on Capolona (36.86) finishing second and third respectively. Another Irishman, Matt Garrigan, was also among the double clears with Jaguar, stopping the jump-off clock in 41.60 seconds to take eighth place.

Howley and Absolute Du Mio took eighth place in the 1.40m Big Tour class on Thursday. Out of a large class of 74 starters, 23 combinations jumped clear, with Howley’s time of 62.60 seconds good enough for a top 10 position. The class was won by Matas Petraitis on Cornet’s Cloud in 59.46.

Howley followed this up with a fourth place in Friday’s 1.45m Big Tour class, this time riding the 15-year-old stallion Chopin VA. The pair jumped double clear, with a jump-off time of 33.19 seconds. The win went to Dennis Van Den Brink on Aonia Domain in 31.77, while Garrigan finished ninth in 34.95.

Howley and Diamant De Operette VA placed ninth in the day’s 1.35m Speed and Music class, from 23 starters.

Sunday’s 1.50m World Cup Grand Prix saw Howley finish in sixth place out of the 50 starters, when a single time fault kept him from proceeding to the second round. Only five combinations jumped a clear first round within the time and just two of them managed to remain faultless in round two. The win went to Dennis Van Den Brink (NED) on Aonia Domain (36.32), with Polish rider Wojciech Wojcianiec on Aliean Zin’Galeriani in second (38.45). The third spot on the podium was filled by Germany’s Michael Koelz on Cellato, with four faults in 35.21.