BADMINTON: Irish riders may have missed out on the big money at Badminton, but it was Irish blood that provided the horsepower for the winner of the Mitsubishi Motors, dual European champion Pippa Funnell, who established herself at the head of the field with Supreme Rock from the outset and never lost sight of a trophy that had always eluded her until yesterday.
Having taken a commanding lead after the dressage with the 14-year-old Edmund Burke gelding, Funnell held her nerve when running second last across country on Saturday and then produced the required show jumping clear yesterday to clinch the title by four points from William Fox-Pitt and the Irish-owned former Blarney winner Tamarillo, which was bred by Finn Guinness and owned by his wife, Mary.
Funnell and Fox-Pitt were part of Britain's European gold medal team in Pau last October, and team-mate Leslie Law continued the Irish connection when slotting into third place with the Irish export Shear H20, whose stablemate Shear l'Eau had galloped his way to seventh in the American four-star in Kentucky a week ago.
The Irish riders were further down the order, but all three put in sterling performances, with Virginia McGrath claiming the best-of-the-Irish mantle when notching up her fourth cross country clear around the Badminton track with the ever-green 17-year-old The Yellow Earl.
The talented chestnut was superb over a course widely accepted as the toughest in the world and, with 17.2 penalties to add on the clock, he vaulted up the order from 59th to 37th overnight. Two down in yesterday's show jumping still didn't stop the ascent, with the Irish pair eventually winding up 33rd.
Eric Smiley had doubts whether he would complete yesterday when Irish Patriot became the one with the problems on Saturday after pulling up lame at the end of the cross country.
But the Quinn's grey was 100 per cent sound for yesterday's trot-up and, with a single mistake in the show jumping, ended in 37th.
Jane O'Flynn had also struggled with fitness problems when her Badminton first-timer Braveheart cut a leg travelling to a one-day event last month and missed 10 days work after having the injury stitched. But the pair got back on track just in time and, barring a runout when taking the long route at the big Hunt Kennels double of corners, put in an impressive tour of the 30-fence cross country.
Show jumping clears were rare yesterday, with just eight horses remaining on their overnight marks. O'Flynn and Braveheart picked up three on the clock, but they left all the fences standing to end the weekend in 45th, a jump of 18 places from their dressage slot.
MITSUBISHI MOTORS TROPHY: 1, Britain's Supreme Rock (Pippa Funnell), 37.81 penalties; 2, Britain's Tamarillo (William Fox-Pitt), 41.81; 3, Britain's Shear H20 (Leslie Law), 47.20; 4, Germany's Ginger (Andreas Dibowski), 48.8; 5, New Zealand's Nufarm Alibi (Kate Lambie), 53.0; 6, Greece's Michaelmas (Heidi Antikatzides), 53.6; Irish placings: 33, The Yellow Earl (Virginia McGrath), 87.2; 37, Irish Patriot (Eric Smiley), 90.81; 45, Braveheart (Jane O'Flynn), 132.6.
