Delyth Collins provided a thrilling end to the jump off in the third leg of the Clare Trailers/Equestrian Store Ulster Grand Prix at Enniskillen on Saturday riding Ronnie Hollinger's Creevagh Miss Jones.
The pair came out on top of a tightly fought battle with Jordan Coyle with just .07 seconds separating the two riders in the €1,200 Grand Prix for which the winner received the Mavis Roulston Memorial Cup. The Roulston family have been heavily invol
ved in the Enniskillen Show and having lost Mavis earlier this year in an accident, this was a very emotional occasion for all present.
Collins steered the daughter of Dow Jones Courcel to the narrowest of victories in the nine horse jump off. The pair were the penultimate combination into the ring for the jump off and they stopped the clock in a time of 39.09 to move them to the head of the pack.
Last to go, Jordan Coyle and Cayetana put in a good effort to make it two wins in succession in the league, however, they just missed out by the narrowest margin. The second of four double clears, Coyle broke the beam in 39.16 to leave them in second and grant Delyth Collins with the win.
Following the class Ronnie Hollinger, owner of Creevagh Miss Jones, said that he was deeply honoured to be the first recipient of such a beautiful cup.
"Enniskillen show like many shows in 2008 and 2009 was plagued by bad weather but that was far away on Saturday when in the glorious setting of Necarne Castle the show was a resounding success," he continued.
Gabriel Tunney and Ace High Mike set the standard for all to follow, however, he left a lot of room for those following. His time of 44.84 and clear left them in the lead and they remained there until third last to go Simon Scott entered the arena.
Riding Dullerton Eclipse, Scott posted a time of 40.20 to move him to provisional pole position. However, his time at the top did not last long as next in was the eventual winner.
So the third leg in Enniskillen went to Delyth Collins and Creevagh Miss Jones. Their narrow win moved them into third on the leaderboard which is this year being based on the Horse and Rider combination. Second placed Jordan Coyle now moves to the head of affairs with Cayetana on 18 points.
James Kernan took a home win on Sunday in the Clare Trailers/Equestrian Store Ulster Grand Prix at his home Equestrian Centre in Crossmaglen riding his own Tarquin M.
This was the fourth leg of the league and produced 33 starters to the Armagh venue with €1,200 on offer for the Grand Prix.
Kernan acted as the pathfinder in the ten horse jump off and set a tough standard to beat clocking a time of 38.44. This 10 Year old son of Quick Star has produced very solid results this year to date recording a double clear in each round of competition which includes a third place finish at the Ballivor Horse Show recently.
Their time was unable to be beaten and Kernan took his first Grand Prix win since picking up an Autumn Grand Prix win at Clonshire in 2004. Following the win Kernan commented; ''It was a great turn out and the ground was brilliant. The horse jumped great, he was third in two classes in Ballivor last week and we are building towards the National Grand Prix.''
Slotting into second was Lisa Rosbotham on her own Valent. The pair who were placed third at Banbridge the previous week, were again in the placings and follow on their good form to go with the horse's third place in the Mullingar International Grand Prix. They broke the beam in a time of 39.30 to take the blue ribbon.
Third place then went to Young Rider Aoife Kelly and Carte D'Or who recorded a time of 41.94. Tom Doherty finished just behind her in fourth with Liezel Lux who recorded a time of 41.57 and were the last of the four double clear rounds.
The eventual winner James Kernan took another spot on the line up by taking fifth with Wild Dancer as the fastest of the four faulters in the second round. Lisa Rosbotham also took two prizes on the day as she took sixth place with Danton.
The Ulster Grand Prix League now continues with two legs of the league taking place in Cavan this weekend.