Double Take claims hunter prize

The Comber, Co Down, team of Lesley Webb and Richard Iggulden claimed the Bewleys Hotels supreme hunter championship for the …

The Comber, Co Down, team of Lesley Webb and Richard Iggulden claimed the Bewleys Hotels supreme hunter championship for the second year in a row for owner Yvonne Pearson.

Orchard Cottage Stables had produced Pearson's four-year-old Magnifire to take the honours with Iggulden in the saddle 12 months ago, but it was Webb who made the right choice on Saturday, taking the ride on the lightweight champion Double Take. Iggulden was on board the medium-weight champion Millbank Classic, but it was Double Take's gallop that really caught the judges' eye in the judging for both the four-year-old title and the supreme.

Double Take, a gelded son of Ricardo Z, was called in for the four-year-old championship, but Orchard Cottage Stables were denied the double when Millbank Classic was overlooked in favour of the heavyweight champion, Rose Boyd's Connswater Silvergranite, with Aaron McCusker in the saddle.

With the four-year-old title already under his girth, it was no surprise when Double Take went on to claim the supreme and, once again, Connswater Silvergranite got the nod for the reserve. The big grey is a son of Silver Granite and was bred in Kill, Co Kildare, by Fintan Flannelly. He was sold to Rose Boyd to be produced for Dublin only weeks before the show.

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The mare title went to Rosemary Connors' home-bred Woodfield Valier, winner of the supreme youngstock title at the RDS last year. She claimed the mare honours ahead of Brian Mangan's year older Aquila, bred in Cork by Quiletto.