Written by Brian Hennessy

Connors and the Hilda Anthony owned mare had already recorded wins at Ballylawn, Aglish, Ballinamona and Killeagh and their latest win at Tallow means the pair have only failed to win at three of the eight league rounds so far and on one of those occasions  - at Midleton, they managed to finish third.

“Fra” and Uskerty Diamond Lady  were one of five double clear rounds, with Colligan’s Peter Moloney finishing as runner-up with Arbutus Ohio, just over two seconds behind the winner.

Francis Connors also filled third spot with the Una Flynn owned Argento Cruise while Charlotte Quinn produced a super performance with Unique to finish fourth just ahead of Colin Hannan in fifth with New Jewel.

Tipperary’s Liam O’Meara, who is one of a number of riders chasing Francis Connors at the top of the league table, finished sixth with Curraghgraigue Jack Take Fligh. The Nenagh rider did produce the fastest time of the jump-off but one fence on the floor cost O’Meara victory on this occasion.

1. Francis Connors/Uskerty Diamond Lady 0/0 44.21

2. Peter Moloney/Arbutus Ohio 0/0 46.37

3. Francis Connors/Argento Cruise 0/0 50.21

4. Charlotte Quinn/Unique 0/0 50.33

5. Colin Hannan/New Jewel 0/0 56.17

6. Liam O’Meara/Curraghgraigue Jack Take Fligh 0/4 43.80

With Francis Connors starting to open a big gap at the top of the grand prix league table, Liam O’Meara knew he needed a good result this weekend to maintain his hopes of winning the title  - and he did just that, scoring a convincing win with Mr Coolcaum while he also finished as runner-up with Curraghaigue Jack Take Fligh.

Just six horses and riders made it into the jump-off and along with Liam O’Meara, Paul Beecher was the only other rider to produce a double clear, the former Hickstead Derby winner finishing third with Crusing Stan.

Noelle Barry and Norway Venture produced the second fastest time of the day but one fence down left them in fourth, just ahead of Maura Counihan and Killerisk Minne in fifth while Mark Duffy and Puesta De Sol completed the top six.

In the curtain opening FBD Speed Series, Martin O’Meara finished in pole position with “The Cobbler” and aptly named mount for a rider who works as a farrier. They finished half-a-second ahead of Paul Beecher who filled three of the top four places. Beecher grabbed runner-up spot with Danou, third place with Britt, while he also finished fourth with Loughnatousa Zidane.

Liam O’Meara slotted into fifth with Cloghera Me while Limerick’s Gary Cusack took sixth place aboard Van Cougar, with all of the top six producing double-clear rounds.

1. Liam O’Meara/Mr Coolcaum 0/0 37.62

2. Liam O’Meara/Curraghaigue Jack Take Fligh 0/0 38.86

3. Paul Beecher/Crusing Stan 0/0 47.78

4. Noelle Barry/ Norway Venture 0/4 38.56

5. Maura Counihan/Killerisk Minnie 0/4 40.06

6. Mark Duffy/Puesta De Sol 0/8 39.50

17 Starters

6 Into Jump-off

1. Martin O’Meara/The Cobbler 0/0 30.80

2. Paul Beecher/Danou 0/0  31.31

3. Paul Beecher/Britt 0/0 31.47

4. Paul Beecher/Loughnatousa Zidane 0/0 31/71

5. Liam O’Meara/ Cloghera Me 0/0 31/86

6. Gary Cusack/ Van Cougar 0/0 39.69

26 Starters

Written by Brian Hennessy

O’Meara had already two Munster wins under his belt with Mr Coolcaum, but his latest win at Midleton came aboard Curraghgraigue Jack Take Flight, a gelding by Jacomar who is just seven-years-old. Cork’s Alan O Regan produced an excellent performance with Electric Feel to take runner-up spot, building on their fourth place finish in the previous round at Aglish. They pushed Francis Connors and Uskerty Diamond Lady into third place, but the points gained by Connors and Hilda Anthony’s mare mean they still top the leaderboard.

The Connolly’s RED MILLS Munster Grand Prix league now takes a one week break, before resuming for the fifth round of the series at Balinamona, Co Waterford on June 7th.

1. Liam O’Meara/Curraghgraigue Jack Take Flight 0/0 40.20

2. Alan O’Regan/Electric Feel 0/0 40.43

3. Francis Connors/Uskerty Diamond Lady 0/0 41.61

4. Philip Horgan/Cavalier Cruiser 0/0 41.98

5. Michael Ryan/Orlando du Trot 0/0 43.47

6. William McDonnell/Pallas Big Diamond 0/0 44.14

7. Francis Connors/Capital Cruise 0/0 50.48

8. Maura Counihan/Coral du Carel  0/4 44.23

The Waterford rider’s winning round came aboard Hilda Anthony’s brilliant mare Uskerty Diamond Lady, who dominated this series in 2014 and on this form looks the one to beat again this season. This is the fourth year that Connolly’s RED MILLS have been title sponsor of the Munster Grand Prix League and speaking at the opening round in Ballylawn, RED MILLS sales representative John Gerety said,

“We are delighted to come on board once again this season and it is really encouraging the see even more venues added to the list, including Kingdom County this coming weekend. We are getting excellent feedback from competitors around the shows who are using our products and our nutrition team are always on hand to offer advice to all horse owners.”

Course builder Tom Holden brought the best out of the 25 starters, with nine making it through to the jump-off. Marion Hughes had set the early target with the Team Z7 owned eight-year-old gelding Laith. The Kilkenny riders time of 42.35 seconds did look beatable, however several combinations ran into trouble when jumping across the second last fence on the course and it quickly became apparent that clear rounds would be at a premium.