Ireland’s Shane Breen took the Alltech grand prix at the Royal Windsor Horse Show with Carmel and Dermott Ryan’s Carmena Z in a 13-horse jump-off which required careful planning.
“I took strides out everywhere,” said Shane, who won the 2009 Queen Elizabeth II Cup with the grey stallion. “And I was a bit straighter than others approaching a vertical [which had fallen for many of the field].”
This was the first big class Carmena Z has jumped in a few months. He returned from two months’ stud duties at the Zangersheide stud in Belgium six weeks ago and Shane had only jumped him in the smaller international classes at Lummen before coming here.
“This is a great way to start building him up for Hamburg Global Champions Tour Show in a few weeks’ time,” said Shane. “It was a stepping stone towards the eventual aim for this year of going to the Europeans.”
Having claimed a fifth win a few hours before the grand prix on Winde III in the speed stakes, Laura Kraut was favourite on Tierra to win again. However, the first fence fell, putting her out of contention.
Only four double clears were produced, and the second fastest of these was ridden by Robert Bevis (Courtney 6), who was almost 4sec slower than Shane.
Results
1. Shane Breen and Carmena Z
2. Robert Bevis and Courtney 6
3. Gemma Plumley and Chandler II
