Bourns leads Ireland to clean sweep

Show jumper Andrew Bourns led a clean sweep for Ireland in Sunday’s $50,000 Hermès Derby at the FTI Winter Equestrian Festival in Florida.

Just three-hundredths of a second separated the Galway rider and his compatriots Darragh Kenny and Shane Sweetnam in a further indication of Irish prowess ahead of Friday’s nations cup.

In a competition that saw faults converted to time, Bourns and the nine-year-old grey stallion Gatsby — purchased four months ago and brought over from Ireland only recently — were third to go and clear in 138.27 seconds. Two rounds later, Corkman Sweetnam and Spy Coast Farm’s diminutive Little Emir stopped the clock in 134.30 seconds, but a rail down pushed that out to 138.30 seconds. Offalyman Kenny and Hays Investment Corporation’s Any Given Sunday also had the pace, but a refusal at the devil’s dyke saw the pair complete in 138.29 seconds over a stamina-testing course.

It was Kenny’s second time at the weekend to finish runner-up to a fellow Irish rider, with Cian O’Connor emphatic in winning Saturday’s grand prix on his latest acquisition Walk Tall II.

Gatsby is by the warmblood Simba and was bred by Cormac McKay, Co Tyrone. Bourns said: “It was a big step up for him and he really answered the call.

“Coming to the last fence he was pulling me just as hard as he was to the first fence. I was very happy with that. Our relationship is very new... so we are still trying to figure each other out. There were a few moments on the course where it got a little bit hairy, but he stayed careful and he just kept trying right away to the end,” said the Ballinasloe rider, whose mother Deirdre, a respected breeder, is recovering from a broken neck after she was struck by a horse in the warm-up arena at Cavan Equestrian Centre last September.