THE three-star Summer Fort Classic show was held at Thunderbird Show Park in Langley, Canada last week, with Irishman James Chawke showing that he is a force to be reckoned with.

Chawke has been on top form since returning from injury, including achieving a double with Daido van’t Ruytershof Z at the same venue the previous week. This run certainly shows no sign of abating, with more successes to his credit this week.

The highlight of these was on Sunday, when the Abbeyleix man claimed victory in the three-star $75,000 Atco Cup riding Daido Van’T Ruytershof Z. The pair jumped double clear in an unbeatable jump-off time of 30.69 seconds to claim the top prize of just over $33,000.

From the 24 starters, only five were able to keep all the fences standing over Joey Rycroft’s 1.50m first round course and just three managed to jump clear for a second time. Chawke’s nearest challenger was first to go in the jump-off, Canada’s Foster on Battlecry (31.4), who had to settle for second, closely followed by American rider Kyle King on Sig Chiari in third (31.44).

“I thought if I did roughly the same steps as [Tiffany], I should be close,” said Chawke following his win. “My horse is very quick across the ground and probably has a smaller stride.”

Placings

Chawke rode Nacara van Berkenbroeck Z into second place in the three-star $31,100 Welcome class last Wednesday, just being pipped to the post by Katie Laurie on board Cera Caruso, who jumped clear in 63.64 seconds, less than a second faster than Chawke’s time of 64.48.

When Laurie was interviewed about her speedy round afterwards, she said: ““We knew James was coming.”

Friday saw Chawke reverse these positions, when he won the three-star $31,100 KEG qualifier on Nacara van Berkenbroeck Z, ahead of Laurie on Cera Caruso in second. Twelve of the 33 starters jumped clear to make it into the jump-off, with nine clear again. The top three were within 0.8 seconds of each other, with Chawke the fastest in 30.08, followed by Laurie in 30.51 in second and Canada’s Tiffany Foster on Battlecry in third (30.86).

Nacara van Berkenbroeck Z is an 11-year-old gelding owned by Alison Locke, a friend of Chawke’s wife, Jacqueline, and this was the horse’s first FEI jumping win at 1.50m level.