Tipperary Olympic hopeful Greg Broderick enjoyed the perfect send-off for Rio as he won the €15,000 Underwriting Exchange Limited Grand Prix at Jumping In The City in Shelbourne Park last Friday night.

Riding the 11-year-old stallion Zuidam, Broderick was one of seven riders to proceed to the second round jump-off. Broderick’s calculated riding saw him take victory when he crossed the line less than half a second faster than his closest rival when clocking 40.07 seconds.

Owned by John Carr, Zuidam is by Guidam out of the Indoctro mare Our Mexico. Under Broderick’s command, the stallion has delivered some impressive results on the international circuit including a fourth place finish in Dublin this year in the Speed Derby as well as two wins in St Gallen and Reims.

Kilkenny's Marion Hughes wasted no time with Team Z7’s 10-year-old stallion Can Ya Makan, but despite her best efforts, a clear in 40.48 proved only good enough for second place on the podium. First to go, Neal Fearon set the bar high with a clear in 43.46 with Billy On Time which later saw him finished in eventual third. Capt Geoff Curran and Shannondale Rahona was the fastest of the four faulters in 39.45, ahead of Alexander Butler and Vimminka on four faults in 40.14.

The Devenish Puissance saw a win for Co Tyrone's Peter Smyth and Cavalier Rusticana when they were the only combination to clear the wall at its final height of 1.97m (6ft 5''). This was the second good result recently for this combination, having finished third at the RDS Land Rover Puissance. Wexford's Jason Higgins finished as runner-up with Hadine Van't Zorgvliet when he cleared the wall in the first round.

Impressive record

Amateur rider Paul Carroll added to his impressive record sheet when he took the win in the West Wood/Ifor Williams amateur speed class. This is the third major win for the combination having won an amateur qualifier in Dublin before going on to take the championship.

Castleroche La Roche is a 14-year-old gelding by Padarco out of Penella. Fourth last to go, Carroll set off in a determined pace and clocked the winning of 50.18 to take home his new horsebox.

Last year’s Jumping In The City amateur winner Joanna Penfold was back on the podium, this time taking the runner-up spot with King Cruise when clocking 51.43, ahead of Grace Lavery and Flagmount Heir in 53.71. Leading rider at Cavan just a few weeks ago, Brian Cassidy and Iquem Du Plesis took fourth when they clocked 57.40 while Andrew Bourns and Hunters Lodge Puissance took fifth when crossing the line in 57.75.