Rachel Moriarty

Kildare’s Mikey Pender and the Irish Sport Horse HHS Calais landed Sunday’s two-star Grand Prix at Peelbergen in The Netherlands, after jumping double clear with the fastest time in a 16-horse jump-off. The 10-year old gelding is by Cavalier Royale (HOLST) out of MHS OBOS Cruise (ISH) and was bred by the late Ita Brennan, owned by Bravo Hughes Ltd.

This was Pender’s first visit to Peelbergen and he took full advantage of being drawn last to go in the jump-off.

Speaking afterwards, a delighted Pender said: “It is quite a successful first show here. We are currently based nearby for a few weeks to attend a series of shows. One of which is a Nations Cup in a few weeks and the preparation with HHS Calais could not have been better. In the jump-off we could take out a few strides here and there and I think that made us just a little faster than the rest.”

Rome

Meanwhile in the five-star Rolex Grand Prix of Rome, Bertram Allen and the Irish Sport Horse Pacino Amiro were one of only five combinations to jump clear in a challenging first round. Unfortunately the duo had a fence down in the jump-off meaning they had to settle for a fourth place finish.

Previous to this at the same venue on Friday, Team Ireland were unlucky in the Nations Cup.

After a tough battle involving 12 countries at the 88th edition of CSIO Nations Cup, a first round team total of 12 meant the Irish team of Mark McAuley (Jasco VD Bisschop), Bertram Allen (Pacino Amiro (ISH)), Denis Lynch (Cristello) and Darragh Kenny (VDL Cartello) did not make it through to the second round.

First to go for the Irish team, Louth’s Mark McAuley with Jasco VD Bisschop finished with eight faults, while Wexford’s Bertram Allen with Aiden McGrory’s Pacino Amiro (ISH) had another four faults.

After a hiccup at the triple combination, Tipperary’s Denis Lynch and Cristello finished on an unexpected total of 13 faults to be the Irish discard round with the Irish team sitting on 12 faults to rank 11th at that point of the competition.

Offaly’s Darragh Kenny managed to produce a stunning clear round with VDL Cartello but this wasn’t enough to get Ireland through to the second round.

After a nail biting jump-off with Germany, Belgium ended up on top to take just their second Nations Cup win in almost 90 years.