Brendan Ryan and Patrick Flynn's Sarahs Sparkey E - pictured below right - gave this jump off their best shot and again everything was staying in place until the darned last fence fell and the clock stopped at 33.98secs which was a good time but not quite fast enough at this stage of proceedings.

Six to go and Richie Moloney was holding his provisional lead at this stage!

Francis Connors - one of Ireland's most respected riders and producers of horses to top level was next out on board Francis Mangan's Auto Cruz - pictured below left - and he is never one to be underestimated and today was no exception - he produced a super clear round and the clock stopped at 32.87secs putting him just 0.26secs behind Richie and giving him provisional second at this stage in the competition!
And one for the Minister for Defence as Captain Shane Carey and African Drum entered the arena to see what they could do!
Captain Carey obviously made the decision that at this stage a clear round was going to put him in the money and he came through the finish flags with a
clear round and a good but careful time in this class, of 36.04secs for African Drum - pictured below right.

Eddie Moloney, bother of Richie, who was still provisionally holding first place, was next to give it a go with his own Cantos B - pictured below left - but when they lowered a fence early in the jump off this was not to be for them and they finished with four faults in 33secs flat!

Olive Clarke, close pal of Sarah Kate Quinlivan was next to go with John Melia's black gelding Spitfield and she produced a clear round in a super cautious round dropping the flags at 38.74secs but with so few clear rounds recorded this was a clever move and one which should theoretically put her in the placings!

And now there were just two to go - and it was between these two that the battle had been raging all season - Cian O'Connor had three starters in this class but only one got through to the jump off, Echo Beach. Both Ashbourne and Gain Dot Com took fright in the early part

of the first round and this kept them out of the jump off - so everything was to rest on the shoulders of the 8 year old mare Irish Independent Echo Beach - pictured below right - no doubt Cian was keen to win the National Showjumping title and this was obvious as he came through the start flags with the pedal to the metal and they clocked up a scorching clear round in 31.09secs shaving 1.52secs off Richie Moloney's time.

And so it was down to the last competitor in the class and the one the crowd were most obviously barracking for - Sarah Kate Quinlivan came into the arena a winner no matter what the result was because the crowd appreciated the gutsy performance of a young lady with just the one horse to ride who had managed to go to the top of the leaderboard and hold the lead coming into the final class - she was the crowd favourite and they were behind her all the way!

The pressure on Sarah Kate must have been enormous but she managed to keep a smile and a cool air about her throughout the day as people would walk past and shout "good luck Sarah Kate - we are with you all the way"!

But today was not to be their day as this brave and talented pair of determined young ladies, Sarah Kate and Billy Daly's Newmarket Girl - pictured below - lowered the fourth fence on the course and then added a further four faults when the final fence fell - they stopped the clock at 32.13secs which, had they gone clear would have given them the National title - but it was not to be the case today and the crowd were clearly disappointed - perhaps the SJAI will see fit to award Sarah Kate Rookie of the Year at the awards night in November for a sensational season of jumping which saw them clock up some "first ever" achievements such as winning three in a row Grand Prix's!
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