Sunday dawned and in Kill, County Kildare the weather was looking quite promising but as we headed off towards Rolestown the weather was deteriorating and by the time we hit the toll bridge on the M50 it was raining and heavily so......luckily by the time we arrived at Rolestown the rain had stopped but the skies still looked threatening however everyone was hopeful that the rain would hold off till the jumping had finished.

As Course Designer Frank Glynn was setting his IJM Timber Frame Super League Grand Prix track we could see that he was certainly going to set the riders and horses a huge task today in the 1.50m class - many of the fences sat above 1.50m and the degree of difficulty on the track would rate as high with the most difficult situation coming with fence 6 being the open water, coming off a tall vertical on a left bend and from the water there were 5 strides, slightly uphill to a nasty, airy looking vertical of narrow wavey planks and this was the section of the track that caused the biggest gathering of riders as they discussed just how they were going to approach these two fences!

So to the class - there were 34 combinations listed on the start list but only 28 opted to come through the start flags today.

Leading the field was John Floody and Summerhill who have been a very successful combination at this level for some time now and John rode the course well but unfortunately finished with two fences lowered. Next to go was Peter Smyth and his own Western Fairway and they finished with four faults.

Third out was James Kernan and Malachy McDaniel-Stone's Killybegs and they proved the course was jumpable with their clear round which would have given the following riders confidence....perhaps!

Damien Doyle and his own Barronessa were next out and they could not repeat Kernan's round and in fact I suspect this is one "day at the office" Damien would rather forget having collected quite a few faults on his journey around the arena. Ian Mouser's bay Irish bred Carrick Clover was next out and he was certainly giving the fences plenty of air but unfortunately two stops and a rail gave them quite a few penalties keeping them out of the jump off today.

Peter Croke and Blanchardstown Four x Four were another combination who collected a few penatlies along their journey from start to finish flags whereas Danielle Quinlivan and Billy Daly's Newmarket Jewel were going sweetly around until a shoe flying off unsettled the horse and one fence tumbled leaving them with four faults.

Edward Doyle and Effective owned by Last Orders Club had their own set of issues when Effective decided he simply didn't like the idea of water today and Edward eliminated himself after having two refusals at the water and then jumping "a fence he had already jumped" - the crowd throughly enjoyed the banter between Edward and commentator Brendan McArdle and Edward left the arena with his usual smile well in place! It was a shame because Effective was jumping so well up to this point as the photo below left shows. Pictured below centre Danielle Quinlivan and Newmarket Jewel.

Pictured above right we see Tom Maloney(seen in the far right of the picture) as he watches the proceedings in this Super League Grand Prix in which two of his sons were competing.

Conor Swail followed Edward into the ring on Samuel McQuade's Drumagolands Flight and they came through the finish flags with two fences down. Peter Smyth and one of my favourite horses, the standardbred mare Zara's Pride were next to go and would have been relieved no doubt to leave this tough track with just the one fence lowered. Andrew Lyons and his own Zapateada opted to retire as did Paul O'Shea and Anne Wilkinson's Kildare. Shane Breen and Sandra Duffy's World Cruise finished with a couple down and Del Collins lowered three fences with Creevagh Duca Diamond who looked very strong today.

Richie Maloney and the tall, big jumping Appolinaire chose the retirement option choosing to save the horse for another day and Ian Mouser's lovely chestnut stallion retired after fence 5 with four on the ground and this was a sensible decision considering the horses have only arrived in their native Ireland some 10 days prior to this competition and they are, as I understand it on their way to Hickstead in the hope of qualifying for the Derby class - where we naturally wish our fellow Aussie's the best of luck.

Lt David O'Brien was another who chose to retire with the Minister for Defence's Killossery Kruisette but Stephen Smith fared better with Robert Hancock's stallion Laraghlease Western Desert finishing with just the one fence down for four faults.

So now we had seen 18 of the 28 starters go through the finish flags and still we only had the one clear round - but this changed when Lt. Brian Curran Cournane and the Minister for Defence's River Boyne clocked up a great clear round with time right - so now we had, at worst a two horse jump off and the crowd showed their appreciation for Lt. Curran Cournane's clear round with a thunderous cheer as he came through the finish flags.

Sarah Kate Quinlivan was next to go with Newmarket Girl, formely ridden by sister Danielle and they jumped a super round finishing with just four faults. Harry Marshall and Shirley Kernan's lovely big grey All Shook Up (pictured below left) didn't have the best of rounds which was a shame because the horse has a big jump and seems to have big heart to match but is new to this level - Harry gave this horse a very sympathetic ride taking to him the whole way around the course.

Pictured above right we see Zara's Pride and Peter Smyth. This horse is owned by Edmund Simpson and goes a log way to proving that standard breds are more than "just trotters"!

So with 7 combinations to go we still had only two clear rounds which proves just how tough this track was today.