Sarah Segal and Ubris won Sunday’s $75,000 Horseware Ireland Grand Prix, continuing their momentum from Friday’s $25,000 SmartPak Grand Prix victory. Segal and Ubris came out on top after a lightning fast five-horse jump-off that saw all but one contender go double-clear. “I thought the course was really good again,” said Segal, after her win. “I was really happy with how my horse jumped.” Segal said she had planned to do some tighter inside turns in the jump-off, but that strategy didn’t work out. Instead, she said, “I ended up going fast around and it worked out in the end.” Going first on the shortened course was Ronan McGuigan, who won last week’s $50,000 HITS Grand Prix on his Capall Zidane. The pair finished clean in 42.882 seconds, setting the Great American Time to Beat. Going second, Darragh Kerins took to the ring on Thunder D'Amuray, owned by Kerins and Maarten Huygens. They had no faults, but finished behind McGuigan’s time, in 45.308 seconds. Segal went third, on the 11-year-old bay mare Holsteiner Warmblood owned by Chartwell. Just as on Friday, Segal galloped as fast as she could and finished the round in a striking 39.641 seconds, shaving 3.2 seconds off McGuigan’s time to land in first place. Peter Lutz on Robin De Ponthual, owned by John Gallagher went next and finished clear, seven-tenths of a second shy of Segal’s time to narrowly grab second place with a time of 40.359. Julie Welles was last go and finished in a quick time of 40.254, but with four faults, to place fifth. Next week, HITS-on-the-Hudson III brings riders another $25,000 SmartPak Grand Prix on Friday, June 5, and ups the prize amount on Sunday afternoon for the $100,000 Purina Animal Nutrition Grand Prix. The season closes in September with the FEI-rated Saugerties $1 Million Grand Prix CSI-5*, presented by Wells Fargo.
