COMDT Geoff Curran and DHF Alliance won the Plusvital Grand Prix at the Cavan Indoor Championships last Sunday afternoon.

Owned by Jessica Stallard and the Minister for Defence, the nine-year-old Irish-bred mare is by Ard VDL Douglas out of Rosie Bee (by Lux Z) and was bred by Paul Douglas. Partnered by Curran since September 2022, when she moved up to 1.30m, she has continued to impress with wins and placings both at home and abroad.

The pair won the Irish Breeders’ Classic championship for seven and eight-year-olds in 2023. A few weeks later, she claimed the top-spot in the WBFSH Studbooks Global Champions Trophy in Valkenswaard, Holland. This summer, their stand out win came at the Dublin Horse Show, where they won the five-star 1.45m Royal Dublin Society Stakes speed class on the Saturday.

The duo also took the runner-up spot in two 1.40m National Grand Prix classes in Coilog last June and Mullingar in September. Last weekend, they went one better and snatched victory in the €5,000 Plusvital-sponsored class in Cavan.

Following the class, Comdt Curran commented: “She is just a cracker. She’s a very competitive mare, she is so careful. This was a little outside her comfort zone. She has very little, if any, indoor shows done in the recent past.

“The three horses I jumped (DHF Alliance, Tempo Manor and Bishops Quarter) are the ones I’m taking to HOYS (Horse of the Year Show, Birmingham UK), so this was like a little warm-up for them.

"I’ll be heading there confident now that we’ve seen that she jumps the same indoors as she does outdoors, so I’m delighted with her.”

Curran added: “She’s getting a bit more mature. She’s very clever against the clock, in the turns and things like that. She’s really looking for the fence, and when she gets there, she tries her best to jump it. I’m getting more confident in her too. After her big win in Dublin, I know just how much she can do.

“She’s quite a feisty ride, but when she gets to the fence she tries everything to jump it. My job is to try my best to get her there balanced. She is feisty, but that’s what makes her a winner. This class felt very comfortable for her. In Dublin, we were trying to go as fast as we could, but for this, I didn’t think I needed to go faster to win it.

“I know how fast she is in the air, how quick she is on the ground and she’s getting smooth through her turns and corners now, so I felt quite relaxed and comfortable with her.

“After HOYS, she comes home for two weeks and then we go to Valencia for three weeks, and that’s her finished for the season,” the winner concluded.

Some 46 contenders started in the 1.40m class. Of these, just eight produced a first-round clear.

Clem McMahon was pathfinder against the clock riding his own seven-year-old mare Carneyhaugh Unison (Cornet Obolensky x Don Juan De La Bouverie), bred by Patrick Breen. They stopped the clock at 40.78, which would be good enough for fifth place.

Second in was young rider John McEntee and Cavan Equestrian’s own mare Makuna (Casall x Concerto II). They left all the fences up in 41.89 for sixth place. Thursday’s 1.35m winners Lee Carey and Luxity were next up. They too kept a clean sheet, crossing the finish in 38.77 for third place.

Curran was fifth to go. He guided DHF Alliance to a superb clear round, slicing almost two seconds off the leading time in 36.78 to capture the lead.

Max Foley and Freestone Farm’s seven-year-old gelding Sumas Knockout (Tyson x VDL Arkansas), bred by Suma Stud, got closest to catching them when they were fault-free in 37.12; they had to settle for the runner-up spot.

Daren Hopkins and Ballywalter Stables’ Calisto Blanc (Cantolar x Cartogran) posted the next clear round, coming in 39.43 for fourth place. Last to go, Cara McFadden and the Stephex Stables-bred Genitus Pommex Z (Good Boy x Cruising) were unlucky to have two fences down for eventual seventh place.

Jason Foley and Chedington Equestrian’s Jacksonville Eurohill (Emerald V x Crambole) decided not to go in the decider, so they slotted into eighth place.