Co Derry’s Daniel Coyle continued his incredible recent run of form since moving to North America, with victory in the $100,000 Prix De Penn at Pennsylvania Horse Show in the early hours of this morning (Sunday).

After finishing as runner-up on the previous two nights at Pennsylvania, Coyle went one better to take the winners prize with Fortis Fortuna, owned by Susan and Ariel Grange. Drawn eighth to go in the 10 horse jump-off, Coyle blazed over the Bernardo Cabral-designed course, finishing clear in 33.63 seconds on the 11-year-old, Belgian-bred mare to claim the win. Local Pennsylvania rider Callan Solem finished second with VDL Wizard, while Colombian Ilan Bluman riding Ladriano Z took third place.

Speaking afterwards Coyle said:
“I saw Ilan’s run and it was good and fast. To be honest, I wasn’t sure that I was going to be any faster. I had a plan to be as fast as I could and if that turned out to be good enough then it would be good, it was all I could do. This is my first time here and it is a brilliant show. I love the crowd’s reaction and I love that they really try to make it exciting for us. I like the show and I will definitely be back!”

After beating Coyle the previous two nights, defending champion Leslie Burr-Howard had two rails in the first round on Gentille Van Spieveld and finished 16th with eight faults. “Leslie was very mean to me the last two nights and I felt I could only let her get away with it for so long,” Coyle quipped. “Honestly, she is a great rider, as are Callan and Ilan, and I really couldn’t be happier to have won this class here tonight.”

The Irish Sport Horse Dougie Douglas finished fifth with American rider Katie Dinan, while Tipperary-born Kevin Babington took sixth place riding Shorapur.