Trevor Breen and Highland President claim a landmark first international grand prix success during week one of the Al Shira'aa Bolesworth International.
The Irish always seem to perform on a supercharged level at Bolesworth International, and they underlined it once again when Breen brothers Trevor and Shane locked down a fabulous one-two in the CSI3* Al Shira’aa grand prix, both piloting home-breds.
It was Trevor Breen and his championship track jumper Highland President — certainly not the quickest jump-off horse on paper — who stole a surprise advantage from Shane and his prolific grand prix victor Scarteen to take the €17,100 (£14,700) first prize in the Bolesworth grand prix.
Course designer Colm Quinn created the conditions for an extraordinary jump-off, where all of the nine starters, except for Shane and Trevor, lodged four faults at one of two fences. Poles fell at either the oxer in, vertical out double, or because of the demanding turn back to the penultimate vertical.
Joe Whitaker’s opening round on his “best friend” and multiple international grand prix winner Hulahupe JR was the quickest of the class. Despite lowering the tricky vertical on the line home, they held the lead til midfield.
Shane then gave a masterclass in efficient jumping with Scarteen, delivering the first clean sheet, but at 2.36sec slower than Joe, he left the door ajar for a challenge.
How Trevor Breen won the Bolesworth grand prix
Trevor is not a fan of final draw with Highland President — “he’s not a notoriously fast horse and I’d rather do my own thing and see where I end up”, he said — but in this instance it played to his advantage, allowing him to nick 0.26sec from his brother’s target.
“I could just hear ‘four faults, four faults, four faults’ as I was warming up,” Trevor said. “Shane was pretty steady with his advice but he told me he was slow to the double. I thought I wouldn’t take a huge risk, but I’d take more risk there, and that’s where I pipped him really.
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“The double was short in the first round and the second part had solid green poles, and they jump that a little worse than coloured poles, which may have been a factor in the faults there.”
It was a first ever international grand prix success for Highland President, owned and bred by Trevor’s in-laws Heather and Ian Black.
“He’s fast in first rounds but not in a jump-off when it’s twisty, he can be difficult to turn. Today he was fantastic though,” Trevor said. “He listened and answered all the questions.”
Shane said he was “delighted” for his younger brother to win the Bolesworth grand prix.
“I handed it to him and should probably have done nine strides to the last and I didn’t,” he said. “Scarteen will jump the four-star next week, which he won two years ago. He felt in great shape today, so I am looking forward to that.”
