ROGER De Mariposa, a seven-year-old gelding owned by Thomas Foley and ridden by Susan Fitzpatrick, won the seven and eight-year-old final championship at the Irish Breeders’ Classic in Wexford last weekend.

By Vagabond De La Pomme out of Angela Z, by Air Jordan Z, he is normally partnered by Brendan Murphy, but a fall at Tattersalls forced Murphy to temporarily give up the ride and, luckily, Fitzpatrick was available to take up the reins. “We’re delighted with the result, he was great. Following Brendan’s accident, the Foleys contacted me and, since the horse was qualified for Dublin, they asked me if I’d bring him,” said Fitzpatrick following the win.

“At that stage, they weren’t sure how long Brendan would be out, but after Dublin, we realised it would take longer for him to heal, so we decided to take him on to the Breeders’ Classic.

“It was quite a last-minute decision, so we weren’t really expecting such a good result, but he was fantastic. It’s a credit to all Brendan’s hard work with him that he handles everything so well.

Challenging

“The track (on Sunday) was quite big to be honest. When I walked it for the seven-year-olds, I thought it was already big, so by the time it went up for the eight-year-old section, looking at the start list, I thought there would be very few clears. As it turned out, there were just four seven-year-olds clear and no eight-year-olds.

“He (Roger) has a massive stride, half way through the track I thought to myself, I’m not that fast here, but when I looked back at the video, I can see that he covers the ground so much, you feel like you are a little bit in slow motion.”

Fitzpatrick added: “He is scopey and careful, so it is easy for him. That win was all because of Brendan’s work. He has done such an amazing job with him. I only started riding the horse two weeks before Dublin, so I don’t know him so well. He’s a gorgeous horse and a credit to Brendan.

“They have done a good bit together and it shows, the horse is so consistent. I’m going to keep him going until Brendan gets back, that’s the plan for now, just to keep him ticking over.”

Jump-off

A total of 30 combinations started in the 1.30m jump-off class, which was worth €10,000 and was sponsored by the Fitzpatrick family, in memory of a fantastic supporter of Irish show jumping, the late Leslie Fitzpatrick.

From the 30 starters, just four managed to produce a clear first round. A further 10 had just one fence down for four faults, while two had five faults and eight had two on the ground.

First to go in the decider was Seamus Hughes Kennedy aboard Racecourse Farm Ltd’s Dure de Semilly (Diamant de Semilly x Oklund). They matched their first-round clear, producing a second fault-free result in a time of 39.17, which would be good enough for third place.

Second to go was Jason Higgins riding his own and Meabh Bolger’s Dutch-bred mare MBF Be Blue (Chacco Blue x Highvalley). They too kept a clean sheet in round two, stopping the clock in a fast time of 38.58 to snatch the lead.

Next in was Kilkenny’s Jack Brennan with the home-bred MHS Drops of Jupiter. By Luidam, she is out of Gowran Lady, the dam of Greg Broderick’s Olympic mount MHS Going Global. An error at the first part of the double cost them four faults, they crossed the finish in 40.64, which left them in fourth place.

Last to go was Fitzpatrick. A seemingly effortless clear round, with just a slight acceleration to the final fence saw them secure the win in 37.52.

Jack Ryan took fifth place as the fastest four-faulter from round one, riding the highest placed eight-year-old Seamus Drea’s home-bred DSH Lucky Junior (BBS McGregor x Luidam).

Cian Dore and Carl Dore’s French-bred gelding Helssinki (Calvaro Z x Windows VH Costersveld) completed the line-up in sixth place.