Equestrian: Sue Magnier's horses gave the Coolmore owner a weekend to remember, with a win in Saturday's 2,000 Guineas at Newmarket for George Washington and, 24 hours later, Australian Andrew Hoy claimed his first ever Badminton victory with Moonfleet.
The only disappointment was Rumpelstiltskin's failure to make it a Magnier hat-trick in the 1,000 Guineas.
Hoy laid the foundation for his assault on the Mitsubishi Motors winner's purse on Friday by claiming the advantage in the dressage with Moonfleet, a 15-year-old son of Strong Gale bred in Meath by Basil Brindley.
Hoy refused to relinquish his lead throughout Saturday's cross-country when steering Moonfleet round clear and comfortably within the 11 minute 50 second optimum time and the pair were foot-perfect again yesterday in the final show jumping phase to make Hoy - at 47 - the oldest ever Badminton winner.
The triple Olympic team gold medallist netted €73,000 for victory and, although it paled into insignificance against the €273,569 reward for Guineas winner George Washington, Hoy has now set himself up for a $250,000 return if he can complete the Rolex grand slam with a Burghley win next September following his success in Lexington a week ago.
Hoy has been aiming for a win at Badminton since 1979, but runner-up Ingrid Klimke was making her debut at the British four-star. Daughter of six-time Olympic gold medallist Dr Reiner Klimke, the 38-year-old German held on for second, despite hitting the planks yesterday with the grey Sleep Late.
Oliver Townend, 12th last year on his debut at the age of 22, galloped up the placing for third with Flint Curtis ahead of Jeanette Brakewell and the great Irish veteran Over To You, at 18 the oldest horse in the field.
The two Irish-bred riders - Michael Ryan and Ann Hatton - gave team performance manager Lars Christensen grounds for optimism regardin his world equestrian games longlist. Limerick-born Ryan produced a masterly clear around Saturday's cross-country with the Yvonne Monahan-bred Old Road, missing the optimum time by a mere five seconds to move up from 60th to 38th. The 30-year-old continued his ascent of the placings yesterday and, despite hitting three show jumps, ended up in 33rd.
Ann Hatton also moved up the order over the three days to finish 48th in spite of a stop going into the Lake on Saturday and four knocks yesterday from a strong-pulling Cool Kiwi.
There was no joy for Ireland's show jumpers in yesterday's La Baule Grand Prix in France, but Cian O'Connor kept the Irish in the frame on Saturday with a third in the speed Derby.
