Breen brothers from Tipperary enjoy five-star showjumping success to round off tour

Irish riders, including the Breen brothers from Cashel, capped a sensational weekend at Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, on Sunday with a pair of wins added to a podium finish in the five-star showjumping Grand Prix.

Shane Breen kicked things off with a hugely impressive success in the 1.45m two-star Grand Prix on his new mare Instrumental, before on-fire Jessica Burke added a second five-star win of the weekend, this time at 1.55m on board the Irish Sport Horse Express Trend.

Not to be outdone, Trevor Breen rounded off the Middle Eastern tour with a superb double clear on Germaine W to finish in an excellent third place in the €160,000 five-star Grand Prix, with Billy Twomey also in the placings.

Having also finished third on Saturday night in the five-star Six Bars competition, Trevor Breen said: “I’m so delighted with a podium finish in the five-star Grand Prix. 

“Germaine has been a fantastic horse for me to bring up through the levels and a great result for our Team Breen Sport Horses and Team Z7. 

“I’m now really looking forward to my team debut on the Global Champions Tour with Rome Gladiators next week”.

Shane Breen is dreaming big with his new mare Instrumental after the combination landed the two-star 1.45M Grand Prix.

The Tipperary man and his eight-year-old mare have caught the eye in recent weeks and gained a deserved success in the €26,200 class.

Breen finished fifth last week at the same level on board Instrumental and the mare used that experience to great effect as they were one of 10 combinations to jump clear in round one, finishing in a time of 76.22 seconds.

David Simpson, himself in fine form at the Middle East venue in recent weeks, also jumped clear in the first round and joined countryman Breen in the jump-off.

With four faults in the jump-off, Simpson and Billy Olga finished sixth, but imperious Breen was flawless and jumped double clear in a time of 37.51 seconds to land the spoils.

Breen recently bought the mare from Sweden’s Peder Fredricson, who only recently retired the legendary H&M All In, and he is hoping that Instrumental could reach the dizzy heights of that all-time great.

“I’m absolutely delighted with Instrumental,” Breen said. “Since we came out here it’s her first couple of shows, and only her second Grand Prix. 

“She jumped double clear and finished fifth last week and was superb today. She’s only eight so I thought I’d go in and do my round, do the numbers between the jumps - leave out a stride on the lines.

“I did that and I thought she jumped fantastic – I bought her off Lisen and Peder Fredricson just before Christmas, and he was straight on the phone there to me after her win today – he’s obviously delighted.

“I was saying to Peder that maybe this is my All In horse - I'm very excited about the future with her”.