Sligo show jumper is National Champion

Sligo’s Kevin Gallagher had a memorable weekend of show jumping at Barnadown in Co Wexford. The 24-year-old not only won the €37,000 Irish Breeders’ Classic with the six-year-old CBS Khantastic, he was also crowned Irish national show jumping champion for 2021, along with his regular mount Ballypatrick Flamenco.

Khantastic is an Irish Sport Horse gelding by Elvis Ter Puttle (BWP) out of Mrs Quinn (ISH)[TIH], by Laughton’s Flight (ISH)[TIH]. He was bred by Caladonia Stables, and is owned by Gary Hazelwood.

Gallagher is based at Greg Broderick’s Ballypatrick Stables near Thurles in Co Tipperary, and that stable supplied him with the mount on his national champion Ballypatrick Flamenco. The 11-year-old had won the first round of the Horse Sport Ireland Premier Series at Barnadown back in May and also won at Mullingar in August.

Heading into last weekend’s final round, the pair were level on points with Monaghan’s Clem McMahon and his horse Hilton Pacato.

Gallagher and Ballypatrick Flamenco had to settle for seventh place last weekend but, with McMahon finishing outside the 10, the title went to Gallagher.

Ballypatrick Flamenco is by Je T’Aime Flamenco (BWP) out of Cruise Leaf (ISH)[TIH], by Cruising (ISH)[TIH]. He was bred by Noel Cawley, who also provided Gallagher with a big winner in the RDS the previous weekend.

Victory in the final leg of the series went to Jason Foley and MHS Jersey Girl, while Junior rider Niamh McEvoy took runner-up spot with Templepatrick Welcome Limmerick. Susan Fitzpatrick and Verdict De Kezeg finished third, with Francis Connors and CSF James Kann Cruz in fourth.

Tipperary’s Shane Breen and Cork’s Denis Lynch finished first and third in a major show jumping event at a five-star fixture in Hamburg, Germany, last weekend.

Riding Z7 Ipswich. Breen finished half-a-second ahead of his nearest competitor Tobias Meyer and Greatest Boy H. Lynch and his mont GC Chopin’s Bushi took third.

“It is great to be back here in Hamburg and see such a great crowd out,” said Breen. “I’m delighted with the win, Z7 Ipswich was wonderful and I even managed to navigate the last few jumps with no front shoes on. He lost them halfway around so full credit to him. I wasn’t going to jump today and then I changed my mind last night and I’m glad I did because he loved it.”

Breen and ‘Ipswich’ have had many good days together. Their roll of honour include the 2019 Grand Prix in Dublin and major events in Portugal, Italy and Norway.

Mayo rider Michael G Duffy also had success at the Hamburg show last weekend, finishing third in the Grand Prix behind Dutch winner Harrie Smolders and American Eve Jobs (daughter of the late Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple).

The 25-year-old Duffy was on board the grey gelding Lapuccino 2 (by the Holsteiner stallion SIEC Livello) and had a clear round but picked up a time fault which knocked him down to third spot.

“Days like this I never believed could happen and I’m sure it wouldn’t without my team,” said Duffy.

“I couldn’t be happier. The horse gave everything today and jumped brilliantly. It is just incredible.

“The time was really tight, as first to go I never chased the time and just rode my round and left all the jumps up which proved to be really important today.”

Ireland’s under-21 eventing team of Jim Tyrrell, Jennifer Kuehnle, Alannah Kelly and Brian Kuehnle, managed by Sue Shortt, won silver at the FEI European Eventing Championships in Segersjö, Sweden, last weekend.

Ireland finished on a final score of 133.1, with Germany taking gold on 103.4 while Italy claimed bronze on 216.5.

Three Irish combinations finished inside the top 10 in the individual standings. Jim Tyrrell and Rock Gift (ISH) finished fifth, just ahead of Jennifer Kuehnle and Polly Blue Eyes in sixth while Heather O’Connor and HSH Has It All (ISH) finished ninth. Alannah Kelly with Cooley Bounce (ISH) (12th), Zara Nelson with OLS Queen Bee (ISH) (14th) and Brian Kuehnle with Tullibards Now Or Never (ISH) (18th) all finished inside the top 20.

The under-18 team of India Rogers, Godfrey Gibbons, Susan Shanahan and Tom Rowlatt-McCormick, managed by Dag Albert, finished in sixth

Kris Rohrssen from Cahir, Co Tipperary won gold for Ireland in the European Carriage Driving Championships for under-14s in Selestat, France.

With his pony Checkmate, Kris won the opening dressage phase on Friday. He was in the silver medal position following the marathon and regained top spot following the final cones section to claim Ireland’s first ever gold medal in this discipline.

“I am honoured to represent Ireland at this level with my pony Checkmate,” said Kris.

“I would like to thank all my supporters especially my family, mom and dad and our German relatives who helped us along the way to gold. Also I couldn’t have done this without Lars Schwitte, Horse Sport Ireland and [sponsor] TRM. I feel very lucky.”

Kris’s father, Folke, is a veterinary surgeon and also a very successful carriage driver at international level.