Spring hat trick in Wellington for Ireland’s David O’Brien
David O’Brien and El Balou OLD won today’s $140,000 CSI3* Grand Prix on the Derby Field to close out the second week of the ESP Spring Series giving the Galway rider a hat-trick.
David kicked off the week with a win in the CSI3* 1.45m aboard Estoril Delle Roane, a 10-year old Italian sport horse, owned by Postage Stamp Farm. He returned to the grass the next day to add the $32,000 CSI3* Grand Prix Qualifier to his tally riding El Balou OLD, owned by David, his wife Sarah and Lillie Keenan’s Chansonette Farm.
“Was it luck or form I think?” David reflected on his winning week. “We’ve been working all winter. We haven’t overused the horses so you can kind of see that they are coming into themselves and hopefully you can now see that that carries into the summer. I’m very happy for the horses, the team and my owners who have been very good in supporting me.”
Spearheading the behind-the-scenes team this week was David’s wife Sarah – since his regular groom Sam Nutini, is on a well-earned post-circuit vacation in Scotland. “Sam was with him [El Balou OLD] all circuit – Nations Cup and everything. Sam loves him.She’ll be very proud of him,” said David.
The CSIO4* Nations Cup was also a family affair this winter for David with his parents Tomas and Frances, flying in from their base at the Galway Equestrian Center, to witness David and Balou spearhead the win for Ireland.
“It was kind of funny because we were never expecting to get on the team. I thought it would be close enough,” said David. “When it came to that week and I got to jump and to clear the course twice with my parents there – I think my dad went around very proud after that.”
Sunday’s Grand Prix saw David jump last aboard Balou having ridden the horse nearly four miles to the show to temper the horse’s high energy levels. It turned David’s words earlier in the week into a prophecy. “I feel like we have a good grand prix win coming at some point,” he had said. “He’s been close a few times and I think he has something in there that’s going to give us something special soon,”
Their time of 37.17 edged Venezuela’s Luis Fernando Larrazabal and Belle de Muze into second place having finished in 37.68.“He’s all blood and has more energy than any horse I’ve ever sat on,” said David of Balou, who was itching to get back in action, not having shown since week nine of the Winter Equestrian Festival. “He loves being here because he likes people being around him all the time. My wife, Sarah, is taking care of him this week and he’ll do anything for her.”
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