Shane Breen lifts the Chard Equestrian 2* Grand Prix with Scarteen
Monday 28 April 2025
 c. ESP Photographic1pfznqbockuzs.jpg "Shane Breen lifts the Chard Equestrian 2* Grand Prix with Scarteen")
Ireland’s Shane Breen finally landed the world ranking Grand Prix at Chard Equestrian in Somerset with Breen Equestrian’s home-bred Scarteen. In 2021, he finished third and two years later, he moved up one place to second. In 2025, he finally achieved his winning goal.
“He’s been jumping well in Sharjah and Abu Dhabi, won a three-star Grand Prix in Abu Dhabi and was unlucky not to win the five-star Grand Prix, he just tapped the back bar out of a double but it’s lovely to win on a home-bred – it keeps the home flag flying,” said Shane, on the Golden Hawk x Chellano Z 12-year-old.
Course -designer Ben Townley set a 13-fence, 15-effort track for the 58 competitors forward over the 1.45m fences, and while a couple found the time a little tight with three incurring only time faults, 11 mastered the course to post initial clears and qualify for the jump-off, Rachel Proudley and Sammie-Jo Coffin claiming two rides apiece.
Rachel set an early target with HK Horses and Oisin Murphy’s nine-year-old mare Nera D Champs FT – winner of the Pony of the Year Show Under 25 Grand Prix and at only their third show together. They remained ahead despite several challenges, but the vast experience of Shane on the more experienced 12-year-old Scarteen shone through.
Setting out at a determined pace, Shane maintained the pace and perfectly executed three tight, angled turns and, with a risky gallop to the last, he swept into an unbeatable 1.19 second lead.
“I watched Rachel, she went on seven strides to fence two, but I decided to take eight to get the turnback. Everyone had to take care at the double, but I got a nice sweeping turn to the last but one oxer and made it a quick eight strides to the last,” explained Shane.
William Whitaker, another who has finished second twice in the Grand Prix but failed to claim a win, chased hard to ride Millfield Quickstep into third with Sammie-Jo in fourth and fifth aboard Chaccomo Blue and Cornet of Follyfoot.
Shane was full of praise for the effort put in by Jane Gregory and her team to run international meetings at Chard: “It’s lovely to see shows like these in the UK and Jane and her team have made a serious effort with two world ranking classes here this week. The ground’s good, the course-designers are good – she really deserves our support,” said Shane, who also won day one’s 2* 1.30m on the 10-year-old Diarado daughter Loughton Diamond, beating his 45 challengers by half a second.
A delighted Emma Crawford claimed victory in the first of the world ranking classes with her consistent campaigner Dukes of Hazzard, who she has produced for the past eight years from British Novice. They didn’t miss a beat as they flew round the 1.45m speed class, the Caretino 2 x Clearway 13-year-old pushing Rachel Proudley and Quality Street into second by 1.20m seconds with Emma Stoker in third on Solid Gold HS Z.
“This makes it back-to-back ranking wins for us, words can’t describe how much Duke means to me,” said Emma, who won a 4* 1.45m last month on the Spanish Sunshine Tour in Vejer de la Frontera.
The speedy Mark Edwards was unbeatable on Saturday as he added both the Big Tour 1.40m and Medium Tour 1.35m to his ever-growing list of wins. The Diarado 10-year-old Dillinger NE stepped up to the plate in the 2* 1.40m speed, Mark with the pedal to the metal to beat his 38 rivals by 0.45 seconds to leave Gemma Stevens in second place on Envoy Merelsnest Z.
Mark had the home-bred eight-year-old Tinkers Touch (Tornesch x Tinka’s Boy) primed for the 2* 1.35m in a 15-horse jump-off, and they pushed Ireland’s Anthony Condon on LMD Marko into second by 0.68 seconds. Joe Trunkfield and Calcord finished third.
Scarlet Lilley beat 66 rivals in the 2* 1.40m two-phase with a quarter of a second advantage on the 13-year-old Muna VD Bisschop (Cornet Obolensky x Nabab De Reve), Sammie-Jo Coffin had to settle for second with Chaccomo Blue and James Wilson rode Radjamerci Van De Blasbloemhoeve into third.
Nicole Pavitt was in winning form with three wins to her credit. She hit the turbo button on Amber Bundock’s nine-year-old stallion Casque D’Or (Clintons Heart x Contendro I) to outpace her 49 rivals in the 2* Medium 1.35m speed by 1.31 seconds, pushing Joe and Calcord into second. Nicole also doubled up in the Seven-year-old 1.35m classes with Quando Z, winning the first by more than two seconds and squeaking ahead in Sunday’s Final 12-strong decider by 0.08 seconds.
Sammie-Jo Coffin scored a hat-trick, winning a 2* Medium 1.35m on the 12-year-old El Salvador Van’t Schaaphof Z by 0.39 seconds and heading two Six-year-old classes aboard the Baloubet Junior Z daughter Renkum Del Rey.
Adam Ellery outpaced both Sammie-Jo and Nicole in the final 2* Medium 1.35m two-phase with Kai Chic, the Cannabis Z x Eldorado VD Zeshoek 10-year-old forging ahead to win by 1.03 seconds, pushing Sammie-Jo and Elsalvador and Nicole with Casque D’Or down to second and third.
Angie Thompson conjured up a double victory, denying Sammie-Jo another win on El Salvador in the 2* small 1.30m two-phase by the tiny margin of 0.05 seconds aboard the 11-year-old Kassanova De La Pomme daughter Kokonut Van De Nethe Z. Angie also topped a Five-year-old 1.10m with the Arezzo VDL gelding Pepzzo AJ.
Derek Morton topped the four-horse jump-off in the 2* 1.30m on Zoe Snedker’s 10-year-old Darco V&V with 0.72 seconds to spare and Emily Ward claimed the final day’s 25-horse 2* 1.30m speed on the eight-year-old Millfield Lottery.
Grace Wallace was another to claim three wins, the nine-year-old mare Don Believer (Don VHP Z x Unbelievable Darco) taking a double in the 1* Bronze 1.10m and 1.15m Accumulator while the 16-year-old Eau Claire V marked Grace’s third win in the Amateur 1.05m.
William Brown notched up a 1* Silver 1.20m double with the Kannan 14-year-old Kabran De Reve Z, getting the week off to a flying start with convincing victory, but left it until the final day to score their second win and Charlene Bastone jumped to the top in the 1* Bronze 1.10m and 1.15m competitions with the Beowulf 12-year-old Brambley Boy. Honey Bowes gained two wins to her credit, riding the nine-year-old Lagrandessa W to a 2.56 second victory in a 1* Gold 1.30m three-way decider and Friday’s Six-year-old 1.20m with 1.02 seconds to spare on NFS Tiloubet.
Sarah-Jane Brown came out on top in two Major 1.20m Veteran classes with the 14-year-old Royale Concorde x Ricardo Z mare Dolmen Du Concorde, winning the speed by 0.94 seconds and the final five-strong jump-off by the tiny margin of 0.07 seconds. Martin Brake touted a Mini Veteran victory double with the 11-year-old El Salvador mare Juduela, winning the first by an amazing 11 seconds and the other by 0.88 seconds. Kath James also went home with two Mini Veteran wins on the 11-year-old Orkaan Van’t Kiezelhof (Echo Van T Spieveld x Puccini), topping the initial two-phase and taking the final jump-off class by more than two seconds in a head-to-head with Martin and Juduela, while a delighted Emma Butchers doubled up in the Amateur 1.05m classes with the nine-year-old Creevagh Crum.
Doubles were the name of the day in the pony classes – Emily Irvine claimed two Major 1.25m and 1.30m wins with the 16-year-old Runard Lass while Lola Thulborn topped a Major 1.30m speed with Tempo 2-Stroke and a 1.15m on Djarfur. Olivia Brightmore also doubled up in the Pony 1.10m classes with the seven-year-old Whatsapp Van Duyversputten.
Image: ESP Photographic
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