Germany’s Michael Jung captured the headlines with his history-making win at the four-star Rolex Kentucky three-day event in Lexington but Irish-bred sport horses were right up there with no less than nine finishing inside the top 25.

Top of the Irish-breds was Mighty Nice, who scored a fourth-place finish. The 12-year-old gelding, ridden by America’s Phillip Dutton, was bred by William Kells and was previously ridden by Ireland’s Joseph Murphy before being exported to the US.

Lying in 17th place after Saturday’s cross-country was Ireland’s only rider at the event, Timothy Bourke on the Irish Sport Horse Luckaun Quality (ISH), bred by Ronan Sheehan from Co Laois. They moved up six places after an excellent show jumping round to finish in 11th place overall.

More was to come when Fernhill Fugitive (ISH), bred by Maurice Cousins from Barnadown Stud in Co Wexford, took 13th spot, again ridden by Philllip Dutton, while Harbour Pilot (ISH), bred at Kilbride Stud in Co Wicklow by Jacqueline Mars, finished 15th with Hannah-Sue Burnett (USA).

Other Irish Sport Horses who finished inside the top 25 included Goresbridge graduate Copper Beach (ISH), ridden by top American rider Buck Davidson; Super Socks BCF (ISH), ridden by America’s Matthew Brown; LCC Barnaby (ISH), partnered by American Lillian Heard; Share Option and Delux Z (ISH).

Overall honours went to German Olympic gold medallist and world No 1 Michael Jung (33) and his extraordinary mare, Fischer Rocana FST, who enjoyed back-to-back wins at the top event, which is part of the FEI Classics Series, in a thrilling competition that attracted packed attendances each day.

Jung now has an unbeaten record at America’s premier eventing venue, having won on all three of his visits, including the world title in 2010. He paid tribute to his winning 11-year-old mare, owned by his parents Bridgette and Joachim, saying: “She is getting better and better. I’m learning all the time from her.” The horse is by Ituango XX out of a Carismo mare.

Badminton-bound

With the Mitsubishi Motors Badminton Horse Trials this weekend, Jung is now in line for the Rolex Grand Slam with his brilliant horse La Biosthetique Sam.

“My dream is to win Badminton, of course, but we will have to see what happens,” said Jung ahead of the British event.

Richard Jeffrey’s Rolex show jumping track proved influential in Lexington and any hopes of applying pressure on Jung evaporated when he was left with four fences in hand to win. His winning margin of 13.3 penalties is thought to be the biggest in Kentucky’s CCI**** history.

American Lauren Kieffer, a virtual shoe-in for Olympic selection, had to again settle for second place – a repeat of her 2014 result – on another mare, Veronica.

At one stage, fellow American rider Phillip Dutton lay in second on the Irish-bred Fernhill Fugitive, but an uncharacteristic 20 show jumping penalties saw them finish in 13th place. However, Dutton still finished fourth with the Irish-bred Mighty Nice and was also fifth with Fernhill Cubalawn. Maya Black (USA) enjoyed a career best in third place on the spring-heeled Doesn’t Play Fair.

The scarcity of clear rounds at the top of the leader board meant that four faults was good enough to elevate top American rider Boyd Martin from 10th to sixth on Blackfoot Mystery, New Zealand’s Sir Mark Todd rose from 12th to seventh on NZB Campino, and Elisa Wallace from 14th to eighth on Simply Priceless.