Round one saw a tight time of 88secs left no room for wide turns as they would be costly - a few riders found this out the hard way when they went clear but collected time faults.

The jump off track combined wide open spaces for gallops and then there were also plenty of places to take the turns and cut the times.

First out to test the jump off track was Eddie Maloney with his own Top Dollar and he set the pace, leaving the door wide open when he came through the finish flags with one down in 50.15secs. Brendan Ryan, had the crowd behind when he came to the last fence with none on the floor and a good time but the sympathy roar went up for him when he and Patrick Flynn's Sarah Sparkey E lowered the final fence to finish with 4 faults in 46.12secs.

Steven Smith and Patrick Walsh's Impact impressed everyone both in the first round and then in the jump off when they came through the finish flags with everything in place and a great time of 41.49secs putting him provisionall in the lead - but there were still plenty to come!

Next out was Cian O'Connor, who is not usually seen at home in Ireland at this time of year, with his own Irish Independent Echo Beach - pictured below left - and they set a cracking pace finishing with no jumping faults and a time of 40.03secs.

Jack Doyle and the Cruicerath Syndicate's Burgraff gelding, Owen II were next to take on the jump off track and they were doing well until the second last fence, a tall vertical came up a little fast and Owen II decided he couldn't make the jump and pulled off giving Jack 3 penalties for a refusal - when they next approached the horse jumped it well but seemed unsettled by the long gallop to the last fence and took it out leaving them with 7 faults in 54.25secs.

Owen II and Jack made this big oxer, pictured below, look like child's play!

Back to drawn order again and we saw Richie Maloney and William Smyth's Millfall Hall have a ragged start to the jump off with the second and third fences falling and then the second last fence also fell sending them out of the arena today with 12 faults in 51.90secs.

Olive Clarke, a rider who seems to have made the transition from Young Riders to Senior ranks seem effortless was next out on John Melia's Spitfield.. This is another young horse who has matured well

Steven Smith and his own Culmore did not have the start you dream off when the first fence tumbled - the horse did not look settled coming into the first fence and Steven took his foot off the pedal after it fell and gave the horse a good ride finishing with 8 faults in 57.10secs.

Paul O'Shea had the crowd behind him as he rode in on Paul Clarke's Mahon Point - pictured below left. This talented horse and rider combination are crowd pleasers and today was no exception - as they came through the start flags it was obvious

that he was determined to make a good job of challenging former stable mate Cian O'Connor and Irish Independent Echo Beach who at this stage still held the lead with their time of 40.03secs.

As always Paul rode a clever and tight jump off round and the crowd roared their approval as he came through the finish flags but he was just short of th emark, slotting into second place, at this stage behind Cian with his clear jumping round in 40.14secs.

Pictured left - All Shook Up, one of jumpingaround.com's favourite horses to photograph as he is so expressive over his fences!

Last out was Cian O'Connor, and so whatever happened he had added the Grand Prix win to his Mini Grand Prix win the previous day at Cavan Equestrian - Cian's last ride and the last horse in the class was Denis Flannelly's Gain Dot Com and after an awkward miss early in the round the chestnut gelding was a little on edge and took out