Griffin lands latest leg of Connacht Grand Prix

HEADFORD Gymkhana in Galway hosted the fourth leg of the Olympic Saddlery Connacht Grand Prix League in a large, new venue on the lands of Seamus McHugh.  The sponsors were The Anglers’ Rest Hotel and Pat Joyce Supermarket, and the course was designed by Paul Duffy jnr. 

Forty nine horses jumped and 18 progressed to the jump-off which was riveting because, almost without exception, each clear round was faster than the one that had gone before, right up to the 14th horse, and the track was a real twister.

The first clear came from Stephen Moore riding Newtown Jumping Jack in 43.83 and that was immediately followed by Derek McCoppin who rode Zhana to a clear in 42.85. There followed three falters and then Stephen Egan gave a fine performance on Whitestream Spirit to finish clear in 40.79  – only to be bettered immediately by Shane Goggins on Joe Flynn’s Ardcolum Duke in 38.09 seconds.

Derek McCoppin then rode Lismoyle Simba clear in 37.39 and the next faultless round was Cormac Raftery’s on KMR Special Edition in 38.48 which gained him sixth place.

The competition’s speed reached its zenith when Damien Griffin strode into the ring on Tabby and, like a hound out of a trap, sped around the course and broke the beam in 36.35 seconds. Next up was Gabriel Slattery on Castlelawn Kannan who came to within one-hundreth of a second of beating that time.

Last to go was leaderboard topper Michael Duffy with Coco Chic. They jumped a fine clear round in 37.52 which put them into fourth place giving them six points to retain their top position on the table. The prize for the best turn-out went to Mark Duffy.