Dublin Horse Show: A slip-up on the flat denied Jessica Kurten her first Dublin Grand Prix win yesterday, leaving the Irish rider .86 of a second in arrears for the runner-up slot behind American Sheila Burke at the RDS yesterday.
"I would have won it but for the slip," Kurten said afterwards, but was quick to give praise to her Aegon team mate Sheila Burke, who claims Irish bloodlines through both her paternal and maternal grandparents.
"Luck was definitely on my side today," a delighted Burke said, after netting the biggest victory of her career for a €35,000 pay-out. "For sure if Jessica's horse hadn't slipped, I would have been second."
Luck certainly wasn't on the side of Italian course designer Uliano Vezzani, whose 13-fence track proved beyond the capabilities of all 37 starters. Following torrential rain earlier in the day, the dimensions were just too demanding and no-one found the key.
Most surprising of all was the elimination of British rider Nick Skelton with his Olympic hope Arko. Skelton, a five-time winner of the Dublin feature, had annihilated the opposition in Saturday's Dublin Stakes with his King George V Gold Cup winner Russel, but his Grand Prix pretensions went west when Arko jammed on the brakes at the fifth fence.
"He's never done it before," a shell-shocked Skelton said afterwards, unable to explain why a simple oxer should have caused such a problem to the talented stallion. "He picked a bad day to do it. People said there was a steward walking around, but I don't know about that."
A second attempt also ended in a stop, but Skelton explained to his owner, John Hales, afterwards that he had pulled the horse up. "If we'd gone from that spot neither of us would have gone to Athens," he told Hales.
Skelton's elimination was the most dramatic outcome of the day, but the course undoubtedly posed just too many questions. Six found the answers to all but one and, much to the relief of the dispirited spectators, the four-faulters were called back in for a crack against the clock.
John Whitaker led off with Exploit du Roulard, one of the trio of horses that cleared 2.27 metres to share the honours in Saturday's Land Rover Puissance. But the big wall had taken the edge off the French-bred stallion and, with the first part of the double on the floor, Whitaker was out of the running.
Capt Shane Carey and Killossery, winners on Thursday, gave the crowd the lift it so badly needed with a clear for the home side, but their time was instantly bettered by almost two seconds when Jessica Kurten and Quibell stopped the clock on 43.27.
Turning tight back to the double, the mare came close to sitting down as her back legs skidded on the rain-soaked turf and it was enough to leave room for Sheila Burke and the long-striding Caya to squeeze ahead.
Rene Tebbel, winner of the Hickstead Grand Prix a fortnight ago, missed out on the double when his time of 43.79 was fast enough only for third, one slot ahead of Capt Shane Carey.
Cian O'Connor, one of the winning trio in Saturday's Puissance, had looked a certainty for the leading international rider prize for the third year in a row. But Annabella was out of her depth in the Grand Prix and O'Connor's top speed mare ABC Landliebe could finish only eighth in the Speed Championship to allow Robert Smith through to win.