Trevor Coyle and Cruising, the Irish combination which finished seventh in the European championships in Germany two months ago, thrilled an unashamedly partisan crowd with a superb win in Saturday night's Volvo World Cup qualifier in Millstreet.
The endeavour earned Coyle an estate car, not the first he has collected on the international circuit, but certainly the only one manufactured by the Swedish company, which has backed the World Cup show jumping series for almost 20 years.
"I've never won a Volvo World Cup qualifier before, but I felt it was possible to win one with this horse, and then Volvo decided to pull out, so I had to do it this time," a delighted Coyle commented.
After the first 32 riders had failed to produce a clear round, Coyle (38), from Portadown, brought the capacity crowd to its feet with a masterful display from Mary McCann's 12-year-old stallion, Cruising, which halted the sequence of fault-ridden rounds and initiated a spurt of more determined riding which eventually saw him joined in the jump-off by four others.
Faced with the dilemma of being first to go against the clock, Coyle took an all or nothing approach - "There was no option but to be bold and try to win it." - and went clear in 36.84 seconds.
Next up, Jan Tops (Chinampa La Silla) gave the Irishman little cause for concern, adopting a leisurely pace from flagfall and crossing the finish with a single time fault.
But there was more to fear from German husband and wife duo Peter and Helena Weinberg. Peter, next to go on Polarkonig, followed Coyle's route almost stride for stride, but failed to match his pace, stopping the clock on 41.03.
Helena followed this with a far more lethal attack on Ferdinand. Clear to the final line, this partnership brought the crowd to the edge of their seats, but allowed them a collective sigh of relief when the clock flashed 37.65 - .81 of a second outside Coyle's target.
Beat Rothlisberger (Ulysse De Thurin), last to go, was almost two seconds off the pace.
Yesterday's Dairygold Grand Prix went to an 11-horse jump-off against the clock. Piet Raymakers, winner of the Volvo qualifier here 12 months ago, scored his third win of the show with Jewels Dominard.
