THE Agria Blenheim Palace International Horse Trials proved a happy hunting ground for Irish breeders last weekend, when Irish Sport Horses claimed the two top spots in both the CCI4*-L and the CCI4*-S for eight and nine-year-old horses. It was also a memorable event for Tom McEwen, as incredibly, he piloted three of these four and won both classes.

McEwen’s winner in the long format competition was the Thomas Hanrahan-bred The Fieldmaster (Future Trend x Sunny Boy), whose speedy cross-country round was the second fastest of the day. His runner-up Brookfield Quality (OBOS Quality x Cavalier Royale, breeder: Sean Kelly) had the advantage of a better dressage score, but was slightly slower over the solid obstacles. Both horses left a pole on the floor on the final day and, while separated by only 0.1 of a penalty, finished almost four marks ahead of the rest of the 77-strong field.

Brookfield Danny De Muze was McEwen’s winner in the CCI4*-S. The Donal Callery-bred eight-year-old is by I’m Special De Muze out of the traditionally-bred Gortglas Sparrow, herself by the Connemara stallion Ashfield Bobby Sparrow. Just two penalties further back in second, the Katie Magee-ridden Cushlas Indigo is another to feature traditional Irish breeding, being by Imperial Hights, and was bred by JP Finlay.

Lucky venue

Blenheim seems to be a lucky venue for Padraig McCarthy and, a year after he won a silver medal as part of the Irish team at the European championships there, he returned to the line-up in sixth with Kilroe Tiger. Originally produced in Ireland by Sian Coleman, this Christopher O’Sullivan-bred nine-year-old is by Hype out of a Master Imp mare, and produced the fastest cross-country round in the class to climb the leaderboard on the final day.

“I was very pleased with Tiger at Blenheim, I felt he could have a good result there,” said McCarthy this week. “He had a very unlucky pole down on Saturday in the middle of the combination, he just touched the back rail, but on Sunday he really showed his class cross-country. I could easily have been a bit quicker as well. He’s a very exciting horse for the future for his owners Diane Brunsden and Peter Cattell [who also own McCarthy’s World Championship ride MGH Zabaione] and he’s heading to Boekelo next, where we’re hoping for a good performance from him.”