Riding the Irish Sport Horse mare Fenya’s Elegance, Dublin-born Clark made up lost ground during Saturday’s cross country phase after trailing British rider Izzy Taylor’s remarkable dressage score of 28.1, and was in second place before the final show jumping phase in Yorkshire today, where she narrowly snatched victory with a zero score against Taylor and Orlando’s four faults.

Horse Sport Ireland’s Eventing High Performance Manager Nick Turner said today: “This was another sterling performance from Aoife. She was remarkably consistent through all three phases at Bramham, and this was a great result for her, especially after her victory at Blenheim last year. The owners are very important to us, and it was great to see Fenya’s Elegance’s owner PJ Hegarty here to see her win today. Irish riders all turned in very good performances at Bramham, and overall it was a great day for Irish sport.”

World No. 1, Britain’s William Fox-Pitt and Freddie Mac settled for third place.

Ireland’s Mark Kyle with the Irish Sport Horse Coolio also turned in a clear jumping round at Bramham today, lifting them from overnight 12th to a seventh-placed finish.

Despite having three fences down, Clark also claimed 12th place with Vaguely North in the three-star event.

Fenya’s Elegance was bred in Co. Cork by PJ Hegarty, and was sired by Ricardo Z.

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After three days of hard-fought contest at le Lion d’Angers with Richard Last’s Irish Sport Horse gelding Fernhill Adventure, the 32 year-old this afternoon had one fence down in the final show jumping phase to take the silver medal in the seven year-old championship, an improvement of one place over her position after the earlier dressage and cross country phases.

A clear show jumping round also produced a tenth place in the championships for Ireland’s Ciaran Glynn with Susanna Francke and Peter Cole’s Irish Sport Horse mare November Night.

Irish Olympian Aoife Clark, who also made history last month by winning the three-star class at Blenheim Palace International Horse Trials on PJ Hegarty’s Fenya’s Elegance, was best of the Irish at le Lion d’Angers’s six year old World Breeding Championship today, claiming eighth place with Patrick Jones and John Forde’s Irish Sport Horse gelding Wasting Light.

The seven year-old championship was won by France’s Thomas Carlile and Sirocco du Gers. The Frenchman also took the gold medal in the six year-old championship with Tenareze.

Note from Horse Sport Ireland

Piloting the Irish Sport Horse Master Crusoe, the 33 year-old from Naas out-rode many of the world’s most famous Three Day Eventing combinations to claim the coveted top ten place.

Lying 16th after Dressage on Friday, Clark climbed four places on Saturday to hold 12th position overnight, and today collected just one time fault on the challenging final phase to secure an eighth position on the leaderboard.

Clark, who finished overall seventh at the London Olympics last year with Master Crusoe, was one of eight Irish riders who qualified for this year’s Badminton event.

Carlow’s Sam Watson finished just outside the top 20 with the Irish Sport Horse Horseware Bushman, four faults in show jumping leaving him in 22nd overall.

Elizabeth Power also put in a strong show jumping performance, one fence down with the Irish Sport Horse September Bliss giving her a 26th place.

Other Irish places included first-timer Sarah Ennis in 38th, Joseph Murphy in 52nd, Jim Newsam in 55th and Michael Ryan in 63rd. Peter Hannigan was eliminated during the cross country phase.

The four-star Horse Trials were eventually won by Badminton first-timer, New Zealand’s Jock Paget and Clifton Promise.

Press Release – Horse Sport Ireland, Colin McClelland