Tim MacDonagh took top honours in the second round of the Connolly’s Red Mills Spring Tour at Cavan last weekend.

Riding Jackie Lee’s Tick Tock Tina, he proved fastest of the 15-way jump-off when he lodged the winning time of 37.20. Along with the win, MacDonagh also took home the leading young rider prize of the round.

Bred by Brendan Noone from Galway, the 10-year-old gelding is by Beowulf and out of the Diamond Lad-sired Coevers Diamonds Sister. Tick Tock Tina is a half-brother to Diamonds for Douglas (Ard VDL Douglas x Covers Diamonds Sister) who was campaigned on the international circuit by Alexander Butler and before this Joan Greene.

No stranger to the winner’s enclosure, the combination had a string of good results last year which include a win in the 1.35m Young Riders Grand Prix in Cavan last October, a second place finish in the 1.35m Cavan Indoor Championships in September and a win in the Dublin Horse Show qualifier in Simmonscourt.

SEPARATED BY A SECOND

Second place went to Kenneth Graham and George. They crossed the line just over a second behind behind McDonagh to finish with a time of 37.77. Bred By G Gormley, George is a 14 year-old Irish Sport Horse gelding by Touchdown out of the Cloverhill-sired mare Solas Dubh.

This combination have had a number of strong performances at home and abroad.

Last year at Hickstead CSI4* the combination finished just outside the top 10 in the competitive Bunn Leisure Derby Tankard.

At Cavan CSI 1* they recorded two wins. Prior to this they took the win in the National Grand Prix in Omagh and finished sixth in the New Heights Champion Series in Omagh.

Reigning Connolly’s Redmills Spring Tour Champions Sven Hadley and Sumas Taloubet made their presence felt as they slotted into third place when they broke the beam with nothing to add in a time of 39.05 seconds.

Winner of the Forans Pro-Am prize in this round was Max O’Reilly Hyland. Following the second round the current leaders are Frank Curran and Tim McDonagh, both on 10 points.

MAKE A WISH

It was a busy weekend for Cavan Equestrian Centre as the venue played host to the Make A Wish show which was postponed in December.

Supported by Allianz, this worthy charity was well supported by riders from all over the country.

One of the big winners over the course of the weekend was Sven Hadley, who took the honours in both 1.30m classes and the opening 1.20m. This string of good results came after a win in the 1.20m and second in the 1.10m the week before at JAG Equestrian.

Hadley landed his first 1.30m win on Saturday aboard the ever reliable Sumas Taloubet Sumas Taloubet is a 13 year-old by Taloubet Vdl out of the Pride of Shaunlara (ID) sired mare It’s an ology. Bred by Suma Stud, the sire Taloubet VDL was on lease from the VDL stud and went back to Holland as a four-year-old after Suma stud ceased standing stallions.

The Dutch bred Ganorad, a seven-year-old gelding by Bacardi VDL out of the Undercover-sired mare Anora helped Hadley to win the 1,20m class.

He was bought by the Hadley’s last year having been just broken and was bred by W. Santegoeds.

The Galway rider topped of his weekend when winning the 1.30m aboard Quanbell. Owned by Hadley’s and bred by Meves Hans, Nordestapel (GER), Quannbell (HOLS) is a 14-year-old gelding by Quentin out of the Lenkas sire Luette Mieze. He has been campaigned on the national and international circuit by Hadley since 2013 and is now competing successfully up to CSI 3* level.