Tipperary’s Shane Breen has today made history at the Dublin Horse Show in the RDS, after he claimed victory in the €350,000 Longines Grand Prix of Ireland – the richest Show Jumping competition ever to take place on the island of Ireland.
L-R Runner-up Scott Brash (GBR), winner Shane Breen (IRL) and third place finisher Lorenzo De Luca (ITA) stand on the podium following the 2019 Longines Grand Prix of Ireland
Breen has come agonisingly close to winning the Dublin Grand Prix in the past, finishing fifth with World Cruise in 2007 and more recently with Golden Hawk in 2016 when he finished as runner-up.
A star-studded podium saw Breen stand on the winners perch with former World No.1 Scott Brash (GBR) beside him as runner-up, while 2016 Dublin Grand Prix winner Lorenzo De Luca (ITA) finished third.
Breen’s clear jump-off round when second last to go with the 11-year-old Ipswich Van De Wolfsakker in a time of 34.91 saw him finish ahead of Brash in second with Hello Jefferson who jumped clear as last to go in 35.39. The only other double clear came from De Luca and Dinky Toy Van De Kranenburg who crossed the line in 38.17.
It was a fantastic finish to this years Dublin Horse Show for Irish riders, with 20-year-old Susan Fitzpatrick from Kilkenny taking a superb fourth place finish in the Grand Prix with the Sharon Fitzpatrick-owned Fellow Castlefield. They were the first of seven combinations who would jump clear in the first round and went on to post the fastest time of the jump-off (33.23) with one fence down. Sligo’s Richard Howley also made it through to the second round with Chinook and would take an impressive fifth place finish with 4 faults in 33.29.
Britain’s Ben Maher (Tic Tac) and Swiss World No.1 Steve Guerdat (Venard De Cerisy) finished in a share of sixth place, while Ireland’s Michael Pender finished eighth with HHS Burnchurch after picking up just a time fault in the first round.
Shane Breen’s victory brought Ireland’s tally of five-star wins at the 2019 Dublin Horse Show to seven in total, with Co Louth’s Mark McAuley crowned Leading International Rider of the show following two wins and a number of top 10 placings.
Horse Sport Ireland CEO Ronan Murphy commented:
“Huge congratulations to Shane Breen on a fantastic performance to win the Grand Prix of Ireland, and to Susan Fitzpatrick, Richard Howley and Michael Pender who all finished in the top 10. it shows the excellent depth of talent in our High Performance jumping athletes and I also would like to congratulate Mark McAuley on being crowned Leading International Rider,” he said.
As the 2019 Dublin Horse Show draws to a close, the focus for Ireland now turns to the hugely important 2019 Longines FEI European Show Jumping Championships in Rotterdam (NED) which get underway on Wednesday August 21st. Three team places for the 2020 Olympic Games will be on offer, with Ireland looking to qualify an Olympic Show Jumping team for the first time since Athens in 2004.
