On the international circuit, Irish dressage rider Anna Merveldt recorded an impressive ninth place finish with Esporim in the FEI World Cup Freestyle Grand Prix at Salzburg in Austria on Sunday.

This will give Merveldt a boost as she bids to qualify for this season’s FEI World Cup Dressage Final in Gothenburg, Sweden, from 31 March to 5 April. There is just one more qualifying round remaining which will take place at Hertogenbosch in The Netherlands. The Irish combination are currently sitting in equal fifth place on the league table on 26 points, with the top nine combinations set to qualify for the final.

In show jumping, Mayo native Jonathan Gordon stormed to victory in Sunday’s two-star Grand Prix at Lier in Belgium with the 10-year-old mare Dorotheental’s Classica.

At the Winter Equestrian Festival (WEF) in Florida, Co Down’s Conor Swail and GK Coco Chanel finished third in the three-star $137,000 Restylane Grand Prix.