Cian O’Connor’s Good Luck win
CIAN O’CONNOR, who had only just returned to competition after a groin injury, landed a big win in Sunday’s five-star grand prix riding Good Luck.
The Irishman and the 11-yearold stallion, who produced one of only four first-round clears, were joined by 12 rivals for the jump-off. But from last draw they maintained their clean sheet to gain more than a second’s advantage over Portugal’s Luciana Diniz (Fit For Fun) in second, with Marc Houtzager third on Sterrehof ’s Calimero for the Netherlands as the only other double clear.
“Good Luck is getting a little bit older now and is a lot more consistent,” said Cian. “I saw the time was tight in the first round and came inside the vertical to the treble and that really helped. I didn’t see many others go in the jump-off but the [Irish] lads, Bertram [Allen] and Michael Blake, were a great help and said to leave a stride out from fence one to two and I think that’s where I made up the time.
“I have of course been off for a few weeks and the whole team including Michael Kelly and Ross Mulholland deserve a lot of credit for the work they put in while I was injured.
“This is a very important win as it now pre-qualifies us for all five-star grands prix for the next 12 months, so at big shows like Aachen or Dublin we don’t have to jump earlier in the week to qualify, which is great.”
Nations Cup victory came down to a thrilling jump-off between the USA and the Netherlands with the former just asserting their authority thanks to Laura Kraut and Deauville S, who produced the competition’s only double clear. In a high-scoring competition, Great Britain’s Guy Williams (Rouge De Ravel), Joe Clayton (Con Man JX), Michael Whitaker (JB’s Hot Stuff ) and John Whitaker (Cassinis Chaplin) finished 12th of the 13 teams and didn’t progress to round two, along with 10th-placed Ireland.
On day one, Ireland’s David Simpson posted a 1.40m win with Starfighter and Joe Clayton earned some good placings.