Written by Colin McClelland

Tipperary native Breen, who last year won the Derby on Adventure de Kannan, today took an early clear round with Patricia Brown’s Irish Sport Horse Loughnatousa WB and then had to watch 30 other competitors attempt to come home with a matching zero score. In an unusual twist, Breen also competed Adventure de Kannan in the Derby, effectively jumping against himself, but Karen Swann’s gelding had two rails down to finish further down the field.

With no other clear rounds recorded in the competition, Breen took home Hickstead’s Boomerang Derby Trophy and the 42,000 euro winner’s prize, with Cork’s Billy Twomey coming closest to his fellow countryman with just four faults on Diaghilev, finishing in equal second place.

Afterwards Breen said: “It’s amazing to win this famous competition two years in a row. I was very nervous at the end, as the last few horses came out, and my fingernails were bitten right down. Loughnatousa B was magnificent, and he’ll have a couple of weeks off now.”

At Geesteren, Wexford teenager Bertram Allen jumped what looked like an almost effortless two rounds in the Netherlands Grand Prix with Ballywalter Farms’s mare Molly Malone V, speeding home in the 13 horse jump-off in a blistering 42.79 seconds. Austria’s Julia Kayser came closest to Allen with the stallion Sterrehof’s Cayetano Z, but was over four seconds off the pace of the world’s number five-ranked rider.

Allen collected a Mercedes CLA car as his prize for the Grand Prix victory.

Ireland, who have been drawn sixth to jump of the eight teams taking part, will line out as follows:

Darragh Kenny/Imothep
Shane Breen/Golden Hawk
Bertram Allen/Molly Malone V
Cameron Hanley/Antello Z.

The order of jumping will be as follows@

1.    Sweden

The Discover Ireland Dublin Horse Show will host the last round of the FEI Furusiyya 2014 series on August 8. The Final is scheduled for Barcelona, Spain in October.

Hickstead’s two-round competition begins at 2.15pm Irish time and will be available on FEI tv, www.feitv.org, by subscription.

The Tipperary rider faced down four riders from the home nation in the jump-off and outpaced Robert Whitaker, one of Britain’s top-ranked international riders, by just over half a second to claim the cup and leave the Englishman in the runner-up spot.

Breen, who was riding Miss SJ Knight’s dark bay mare Zarnita, collected the 3,000 euro first prize after beating a starting field of 26 to the trophy.

The 38 year-old Irish rider’s success today followed several top ten places at Hickstead since Thursday, and also a remarkable double clear round in the Nations’ Cup on Friday which helped Ireland finish in fourth place and earned Breen the Furusiyya Rider of the Day award.

Great Britain, winners of the Hickstead CDIO Nations Cup round. L-R Nikki Crisp (Pasoa), Gareth Hughes (DV Stenjkers Nadonna), Richard Waygood (Chef d’Equipe), Michael Eilberg (Marakov) and Carl Hester (Uthopia) – FEI Nations Cup Dressage – Dressage at Hickstead: Photo FEI

IRELAND’S first Dressage Nations’ Cup team to take part in the three-star event at Hickstead, England, all returned favourable scores.

Roland Tong and Pompidou were best of the three-strong team, finishing on 70.925 per cent, while Dane Rawlins with Sydney came home on 68.450. Close behind was Kate Dwyer and Reve D’Or on a score of 64.775.

Against formidable opposition the Irish team finished in seventh place on an overall tally of 68.050, with the British team winning on 76.183 per cent.

In the final rankings, The Netherlands won the series title with Britain finishing in third place overall behind Sweden. Two wins on the final day gave Britain the edge to hold third place over Germany who finished on the same score.

The FEI Nations Cup™ pilot series has been staged over four events beginning with CDIO 3* Vidauban in France last May where the Dutch came out on top. At CDIO 5* Rotterdam in The Netherlands in June the British achieved their first victory but a week later it was the host-side German squad that took the top step of the podium at CDIO 5* Aachen. The first three venues took the option to stage a Grand Prix competition as part of this trial FEI Nations Cup™ Dressage season, but CDIO 3* Hickstead opted for a Freestyle competition to bring the test series to a close, and there were some very high-quality performances at this final event.

1. Great Britain 76.183: Pasoa (Nikki Crisp) 69.700, Marakof (Michael Eilberg) 72.650, DV Stenjkers Nadonna (Gareth Hughes) 74.250, Uthopia (Carl Hester) 81.650.
2. USA 75.258: Alina (Arlene Page) 69.200, Breanna (Kathleen Raine) 75.650, Doktor (Shelly Francis) 74.500, Coral Reef Wylea (Guenter Seidel) 75.625.
3. Germany 73.267: Darjeeling (Stephan Koberle) 70.100, Nymphenburgs Rockport (Johanna von Fircks) 71.025, Riccoletto (Matthias Kempkes) 71.025, Loverboy (Jenny Lang) 77.750.
4. Netherlands 71.867: Ruby (Lotje Schoots) 69.250, Wup (Joyce Heuitink) 68.050, Ulysses La Haya (Laurens van Lieren) 72.025, Thriller (Katja Gevers) 74.325.
5. Sweden 71.425: Paridon Magi (Caroline Darcourt) 70.225, Winnie B (Natalie Oldfors) 68.800, Triviant (Charlotte Haid Bondergaard) 70.800, Charming Boy (Sofie Lexner) 73.250.
6. France 68.450: Paradieszauber (Catherine Henriquet) 64.075, Mistral du Coussol (Alizee Froment) 70.200, Luciano (Julia Chevanne) 71.075/
7. Ireland 68.050: Reve d’Or (Kate Dwyer) 64.775, Sydney (Dane Rawlins) 68.450, Pompidou (Roland Tong) 70.925.
8. Spain 64.175: Deco BCN (Agusti Elias) 64.475, Gumiel (Diana Ostariz) 66.025, Hierro C (Lauro Aguilo) 62.025.

Carpetright ended it’s sponsorship with the event in October 2012 detailing that the move was to allow Lord Harris to concentrate on ownership.  Lord Harris is a joint owner of Hello Sanctor, the Olympic ride of Scott Brash.

Their aim of attracting a title sponsor, is to maintain the prize fund of £120,000 to secure the world class competitors and horses required for the competition.  While the Bunn family may be willing to cover this cost themselves ensuring the future of this historic competition, they are hopeful that a new title sponsor will be found in the following months.