O’Connor & Artemis lead the victory gallop. Ph. Horse Sport Ireland
As far as omens go, there was no better opener to the Royal Dublin Horse Show than a complete sweep of the leaderboard in the opening international show jumping competition on Wednesday, July 20th, 2016.
In the Speed Stakes sponsored by Avery Crest Ski Chalets CSIO5*, Cian O’Connor led the way with Aramis 573, a 9-year-old Holsteiner stallion (Askarai x Campione) That is owned by Ronnoco Jump Ltd.
O’Connor’s time in the single round class stood well on its own at the top of the class in 51.92 seconds. But if anything, it got even better, as his teammates Bertram Allen, Greg Broderick, Billy Twomey, and Darragh Kenny lined up in 2nd through 5th places on clear rounds of their own.
Allen rode Quiet Easy 4, a 12-year-old Oldenburg gelding (Quidam’s Rubin x Zapateado) owned by Quainton Stud to a time of 52.51 seconds. Broderick was 3rd in 52.68 seconds with Zuidam, a 12-year-old KWPN stallion (Guidam x Indoctro) owned by Paul Carr. Twomey rode Ardcolum Duke to 4th, and Kenny was at the reins of Global van T Braunerthof for 5th.
The Irish team returns to the Royal Dublin Horse Show this year as defending champions of the Aga Khan Trophy for the Furusiyya FEI Nations Cup, and this week’s competition in the city of Dublin, Ireland is unquestionably the most important of the year for Irish riders. To kick off their week with such an extraordinarily strong result will make the week’s competition come an intensely interesting one.
See the full result list of the Speed Stakes sponsored by Avery Crest Ski Chalets at this link.