“I’ve been eventing for 33 years, but my emotions have changed since my accident,” said William, who was visibly moved by this success. “That’s fine, I just have to recognise that things are a bit different now. I’m lucky to be here and I’m so pleased for my team that I won here as they really had their work cut out over the winter and this result is down to them.”
The Irish three-day event has always been a lucky venue for William, whose win in the CCI2* was his 10th victory here. In 2011, he made history as the first person to win three CCI classes in one day when he achieved this feat at Tattersalls, taking the CCI*, CCI2* and CCI3*. Bay My Hero also holds a special place in the event’s record books because he has won all three CCI classes.
On this occasion William won the Eventing Ireland CCI2* riding Catherine Witt’s Secret Night, an 11-year-old by Sunny Boy. He led from the front and finished on his dressage score of 39.7.
In the Cooley Farm CCIYH*, William added just one showjumping time-fault to his first-phase score of 35.6 to win on Jennifer Dowling’s Little Fire. He moved up from second after dressage when Jonelle Price withdrew first-phase leader OBOS Impressive before the cross-country.