Jennifer Micklem Diamond

The 2019 Millstreet International Horse Trials came to a close on Sunday afternoon, the gates to the Green Glens Arena opened on Tuesday with riders from around the world arriving at the Cork venue. The event hosted the fifth leg of the Event Rider Masters (ERM) Series, an exciting and highly competitive series of CCI4*-S events taking place around Europe – this was the first time the series has come to Ireland.

There was a record number of entries across the 10 international classes running at the event, including entries from some of the worlds best event riders, including Tim Price and Oliver Townend.

Ireland’s double WEG silver medallist Padraig McCarthy was the only Irish rider to win a class, he claimed the CCI2*-S (section B) with Fiveberry.

Ireland’s Sam Watson came close, finishing a very close second in the ERM class, just 0.3 marks behind New Zealand’s Lucy Jackson. Horseware Stellor Rebound made his return to competition after WEG last year with Sarah Ennis to finish fourth in the same class. Both Watson and Ennis are in Germany for the FEI Eventing European Championships this week.

Australia’s Kevin McNab recorded yet another international victory on Irish soil, winning the CCI3*-S with Fernhill Tabasco. His teammate Christopher Burton added nothing to his dressage score of 28.7 to win the CCI4*-L.

Sweden’s Ludwig Svennerstal won the CCI2*-L, Danish rider Yasmin Olsson-Sanderson won the CCI2*-S six-year-old class and British riders won the remaining four classes.