Marie Burke put in her strongest bid yet for a place on this month's World Equestrian Games team with a brilliant performance for a third-place finish in the €120,000 Longines Grand Prix at the RDS yesterday.
The Co Clare rider, who was added to the shortlist for the world games in Aachen when world number two Jessica Kürten pulled out last month, was fifth into the arena yesterday afternoon and knew that the time allowed was tight. But although her home-bred stallion Chippison left all the fences intact, the clock ticked on for an extra 2½ seconds before the Irish pair crossed the finish line to add a time fault to their tally.
Just five were clear over the fences and on the clock, including Ireland's Aga Khan star Shane Breen, but nine were called back to go through to the second round. Cork's Sarah Kate Quinlivan, who also got into the decider on a time fault, was second to jump, but two down left her out of the reckoning as Burke and Chippison cantered into the ring.
The stallion had been treated for a virus after a disappointing Hickstead a fortnight ago, but he was certainly firing on all cylinders yesterday as he jumped clear again to complete the two rounds on just a single fault and take a temporary hold on the top spot.
Switzerland's Markus Fuchs, winner of the earlier speed championship, followed suit, but in a faster time, to take over the lead, before Shane Breen had the chance to put Ireland back in front. The grey World Cruise lived up to his name by cruising round the first seven fences before unlucky 13, one from home, fell to drop Breen down the order to seventh.
With just one left to jump, Burke was still holding on to second place, but American Molly Ashe put paid to that, producing the only double clear to secure herself the €40,000 winner's cheque at the end of a week which saw her celebrate her 36th birthday and get engaged.
There was plenty for the Irish to celebrate on Saturday as well, with the home side making a clean sweep in the three internationals. Shane Breen opened with victory in the morning's speed derby and was rapidly followed into the winner's enclosure by Clement McMahon, who led an Irish one-two-three in the Dublin Stakes and went on to pick up the leading Irish rider award.
But it was Cian O'Connor who created the biggest stir of the day when winning the Land Rover Puissance outright and making a brilliant stab at setting a new Dublin Horse Show record.
O'Connor and Rene Tebbel were the only ones to clear the wall at 2.19 metres, but the German decided to call it a day while O'Connor asked for the wall to be put up to 2.31 metres, four centimetres higher than the previous record set by O'Connor himself along with Capt David O'Brien and Britain's John Whitaker two years ago.
Casper, the grey which had won outright for O'Connor in 2002, looked set to jump into the record books, but the top coping on the big wall teetered and fell, leaving the Kildare man with €11,300 in his pocket for the win, but no new record.