Murphy tips Irish winner at Ballindenisk

Olympian Joseph Murphy believes there will be an Irish winner in the short-format class at the Johnson & Perrott Land Rover International Horse Trials at Ballindenisk, Co Cork, this weekend.

Understandably, he would prefer if it was himself. “There is a high possibility there will be an Irish winner,” says Murphy.

“Somebody will come out of the pack from Ireland and I’ll be trying very hard. It has been my plan for a long time.”

Murphy and his 32 rivals have a much bigger incentive than usual to do well, with the €50,000 Goresbridge Go For Gold bonus prize on offer for any horse/rider combination that wins the short-format class and goes on to win next year’s long-format contest.

“The bonus will be in the back of riders’ minds, absolutely. My horse is a year away from producing a top-class performance, so the €50,000 is an added incentive.”

However, with his eight-year-old mount DHI Top Story in the early chapters of his career, the Mullingar man was not ready to say how this weekend’s narrative would pan out.

“It is very difficult to make predictions. I would hope he won’t be too green in the dressage, but a good performance in that would give us a kick-start.

“You wouldn’t need to be leading after dressage. I won’t be getting too worked up if I am a few marks off the leaders and would be realistic,” said Murphy, who placed 14th in the Olympics.

“He’s gradually moving up the levels and I’ve always thought a lot of him. He’s very good at cross-country and jumping and, while he’s new to this level in the dressage, he’s going very well and he won an open intermediate two weeks ago.”

He had high praise for Ballindenisk.

“I always like coming here, it is a unique course. My horse in London was second in the three-star at Ballindenisk two years ago, and a good result here would make you confident a horse would go on to bigger and better things. It is a great stepping stone.”

The Co Down-based rider said the cross-country phase will provide a suitable test and overseas visitors should not be expecting an easy ride.

“The course is typical Ballindenisk. There are two or three combinations people are scratching their heads about. It is on the strong side, but there is a great flow to it and it is ideal for what I would want.

“You know coming here it will not be a dressage competition. Foreigners come over thinking it could be a handy run, but it never turns out that way, and it always comes down to the final day.”

Competition begins today at 10am with the first of two days of dressage, followed by the thrill of cross-country on Saturday, with the show jumping phase on Sunday.