Charles in fine form in Portugal
Sunday, 27 February 2005 12:35Ireland's Peter Charles on Rockstar nabbed yesterday's main event of the Vilamoura Equestrian Tour on Portugal's Algarve.
Charles steered his mount clear over the two rounds of the 1.45m class and finished half a second faster than runner-up Graham Lovegrove of Great Britain on Ali.
Another Irish rider, Marion Hughes on Oh Jessie, was third - less than a second off the pace.
Hughes also took 10th place in the event on Heritage Transmission.
Charles had figured prominently in the earlier 1.35m class on Johnny Jumper, taking fourth place in an event which saw other good Irish placings, courtesy of Denis Flannelly (7th on Euforia) and Niall Talbot (10th on Arrisma and 11th on Askan IV).
Meanwhile, Cork man Billy Twomey was best of the Irish in the latest round of the 2005 Sunshine Tour at Vejer De La Frontera in Cadiz yesterday.
One of the heroes of Ireland's great Nations Cup win in Dublin last year, Twomey finished second of 79 entrants in the 1.45m class on the 10-year old Killy Jones - his double clear round in 38.95 seconds bettered only by local hero Pascal Levy on Igor De Fontenis.
Twomey was out of luck in the subsequent 1.50m class, incurring four first round faults on Anastasia, but Paul O'Shea scraped into the money in this event, making the jump off and finishing 11th on Mahon Point.
Earlier in the day, Trevor Coyle secured eighth place out of 79 competitors on Joy's Mouche in one of the two 1.40m classes. Twomey lost out in this event with four faults on Whinnie Jackson.
