Italy may have provided the two-legged half of the winning partnership at Olympia yesterday, but it was Ireland that provided the horsepower as Jerry Smit steered the Cavalier mare Secret Love to scoop the feature Santa Claus Stakes.
Unfortunately, Smit's mare was the only Irish claim in the jump-off as Peter Charles missed the cut when Mulligan hit the second last fence.
But at least Smit kept Irish breeding to the front, triumphing in an 11-way barrage with two daring shortcuts that clinched victory by just over eight-tenths of a second from Germany's Markus Merschformann.
Although most of the finalists took the racing line into the final double, it was only Smit who took an alternative route after the planks. "I knew if I went the same way as everyone else it would be difficult to go faster," the Team Ericsson rider said after collecting the £3,200 winner's cheque.
"I knew I had to do something different, so I took the risk and it paid off."
Michael Whitaker was best of the home side in third ahead of Thursday night's Ericsson Challenge winner, Beat Mandli, but the hosts had rather better luck in the earlier Mistletoe speed stakes, which was won by last man in John Renwick.
Renwick celebrates his 30th birthday on January 2nd, the day after his girlfriend Laura is due to give birth to their first child. But there were more pressing matters on Renwick's mind yesterday as he steered Brookend Fuhrer to victory. Peter Charles was out of luck when Orange Juice said no at the second-last to slide to 11th, with the prizefund stretching only to 10th.
Charles said at the start of the show that he wouldn't be going all out from the beginning, but expresses himself "quietly confident" about tonight's Puissance. He will be tackling the big wall with a horse he has never ridden before, Sagrat, a 15-year-old that has won a lot of Puissance classes with former rider Guy Goosen. The horse was sent to Charles by Irish owners Tommy and Sarah Gallagher to be sold, but has yet to find a new home.
"I've just been waiting for the big stuff to start", Charles said yesterday. He won't have too long to wait, as the "big stuff" kicks off this afternoon with the eliminator class to pick the 18 that go through to tomorrow's World Cup qualifier. Charles is drawn first to go with Carnavelley in the 39-starter field.
SANTA CLAUS STAKES - 1, Italy's Secret Love (Jerry Smit); 2, Germany's Lincolm L (Markus Merschformann); 3, Britain's Prince Of Wales (Michael Whitaker); 4, Switzerland's Gryfino (Beat Mandli); 5, France's Darius Du Murier (Eric Navet); 6, Germany's Anka (Marcus Ehning).
MISTLETOE STAKES - 1, Britain's Brookend Fuhrer (John Renwick); 2, America's Quintin (Candice King); 3, Holland's Audi's Impression (Eric van der Vleuten); 4, Britain's Machavelli (Damien Charles); 5, Germany's Degenhardt's Caprisio (Holger Wulschner); 6, Germany's Gambe (Markus Merschformann); 11, Ireland's Orange Juice (Peter Charles).
CHRISTMAS MASTERS: 1, Limbo (A Davies) 0,0,0,0,0, in 28.56; equal 2, Delon Va (L Nieberg) 0,0,0,0,4 in 25.58, Asco (B Mandli), Galet d'Ozay (M Robert), Francesco di Georgio (J Whitaker), Kalusha (R Smith), and Corlanda (H Weinberg).
