Moloney shares Challenge Cup on Irish horse

Kilkenny native Richie Moloney shared victory on Thursday in the $32,000 WEF Challenge Cup at Wellington in Florida on the Irish-bred gelding Slieveanorra.

Meanwhile, fellow Irish rider Darragh Kenny took third place in the first section of the Challenge Cup contest with the nine-year-old gelding Wannahave.

Because of a record 107 entries for the three-star competition, the class was split into two, with 54 riders starting in Section A and 53 in Section B, and all hoping to gain qualification for Saturday night's $125,000 FEI World Cup Qualifier Grand Prix.

Moloney finished first in Section B of the competition, the USA's Kent Farrington and Uceko sharing victory with the Irishman with a win in Section A.

US-based Moloney's mount Slieveanorra is a ten-year-old Irish Sport Horse gelding by Voltaire, and was bred in Co Monaghan.

Commenting on his round in the jump-off, Moloney explained: "He spooked at the second jump in the first round, so I looked at the inside turn and decided not to do it before I started.

“He's a very quick horse anyway, so I knew I'd be quick enough going around. He's nearly always the quickest, even if you have one down, even in the first round. He's just naturally a very quick horse."

Moloney has had Slieveanorra since June. His brother Eddie used to ride and own the horse in Ireland. "When he was an eight-year-old, he won the National Championships in Ireland with my brother. My sponsor Equanimity bought him from my brother, and I'm very happy to have him," Moloney said.

"I was home a few times and saw him and wished I had him, so I'm very happy now. He's always very consistent."

In Section A of Thursday's class, Offaly's Darragh Kenny recorded two clear rounds with the Dutch-bred gelding Wannahave, but was almost four seconds off the pace of winner Farrington's very fast jump-off round, to claim third.