PETER CHARLES, who will be defending his European show jumping crown at Mannheim this autumn, has won The Irish Field show jumper of the year award for the second time running. The 36-year-old Hampshire-based rider joined three other previous winners at a special lunch when the awards were presented in Dublin yesterday.

Charles earned his second Irish Field win after victory in the world's richest show jumping event, the du Maurier International at Spruce Meadows in Calgary last September. He was also best placed of the Irish riders at the Atlanta Olympics, finishing 11th in the individual final.

Emma Wilson, who celebrates her 17th birthday at the beginning of next month, once again took The Irish Field pony show jumper of the year award after successfully defending the European title she claimed in 1995. Riding the mare Colton Maelstrom, the Co Down rider won out in a four-way jump-off for gold and was also on the Irish Nations Cup winning team in Verona.

Stuart Crawford, another European gold medallist, was presented with the trophy for the leading young event rider following his victory at Blarney Castle three-day event with Kingatchacuk, the horse that Went on to finish 10th at Necarne Castle in the autumn. Crawford, who shared The Irish Field trophy last year after the young rider European team victory in 1995, was best of the Irish at the 1996 championships when riding Blackhill Amadeus into sixth place.

The leading senior event rider trophy went to David Foster, a European team gold medallist back in 1979, who has won The Irish Field award no fewer than four times. He earned his fifth title after becoming the first Irish rider to notch up three cross-country clears at Olympic level and also in acknowledgement of his runner-up placing at the Auckland Airport Invitational in New Zealand just before Christmas.