Showjumping:There was no luck of the Irish involved. It was just talent all the way as Billy Twomey gave the Ballsbridge crowds the perfect opening day present with a home victory in yesterday evening's feature jump-off class at the Fáilte Ireland Dublin Horse Show.
The Cork rider was one of 15 through for the race against the clock in the Irish Sports Council Classic and, with five other Irish also into the mix, the odds were well in favour of a green jacket being at the head of the line-up.
The odds do not always work out in showjumping, but they did yesterday, with three Irish in the top seven and Twomey ahead of them all.
Comdt Gerry Flynn should have been first of the home side to go against the clock, but the Army rider had achieved his goal for the day - a clear round with the mare Mo Chroí that should work in his favour when team manager Robert Splaine announces his team today for tomorrow's Aga Khan Trophy.
So Comdt Flynn stayed on the sidelines while the rest prepared to do battle for the sports council's cash.
Belgium's Pieter Devos was the first to put up a serious target, clear in 48.21 seconds to take the lead with Tekila D.
That held for the next four horses, although Tipperary man Denis Lynch came close in 49.47 to move into second with Upsilon d'Ocquier.
But Twomey had other ideas about whose name was going to be written on the winner's cheque, and it did not start with Pieter.
With the mare Tinka's Serenade tuned to perfection, he was home and hosed in 48.11 and that tenth of a second was just enough to give the Irishman the edge over his Belgian rival.
Britain's Nick Skelton found a fractionally faster route with Russel, but kicked out two fences in the process and neither Edward Doyle nor Markus Fuchs could produce the goods to leave Twomey the undisputed winner and €6,600 richer.
The Cheshire-based 30-year-old was thrilled with the victory, his biggest win since taking over the ride on the mare three months ago.
"She's out of a really good mare Serenade, a World Cup horse that Nick [ Skelton] used to ride," he said as he vaulted back on board to go in for the prizegiving.
And there is another hint to the heritage of the winner, as Tinka's Serenade is by the stallion Tinka's Boy, winner of the Dublin Grand Prix in 2001 with Switzerland's Markus Fuchs.
Denis Lynch held on for third and, in a good day for the hosts, Irish riders were narrowly pipped at the post in the two speed classes.
Anthony Condon was held down in the runner-up slot by Germany's Heinrich Hermann-Engemann in the opener.
Capt Shane Carey looked all over the winner in the following speed stakes only to be relegated at the last moment by American Molly Ashe-Cawley, who was not going to let her four-month pregnancy get in the way of a Dublin win.