Captain Brian Cournane Captures $36,000 Brickenden Trophy Victory at Royal Horse Show

Captain Brian Cournane of Ireland enjoyed a win in the $36,000 Brickenden Trophy International Jumpers riding Penelope Cruz on Thursday afternoon.

From a starting field of 19 entries representing eight different countries, nine combinations advanced to the jump-off over Wade’s course. The leading time continued to get progressively faster throughout the jump-off, with the final entry of Cournane and Penelope Cruz, his 10-year-old Irish Sport Horse mare, stopping the clock in 28.69 seconds to take the win.

Ireland’s Captain Brian Cournane rode Penelope Cruz to victory in the $36,000 Brickenden Trophy on Thursday afternoon, November 8. Photo by Ben Radvanyi Photography

“She’s naturally a very quick horse, so I knew that if I could do the distances and be tight, she covers the ground very quickly,” said Cournane, who acquired the mare from fellow Irishman Darragh Kerins a year ago. “I had to have a lot of confidence in her to do the tight turns and trust that those jumps would stay up and that we’d be fast.

“I’m so honoured to be here,” continued Cournane, who is competing at The Royal for the first time. “It’s a wonderful show, and I’ve heard so many great things about it. I was first reserve on the invited riders’ list for a couple of weeks; I was really hoping I’d get in and, at the end, I did!”

While Cournane is new to the Royal Horse Show, he’s very familiar with this year’s Royal Horse Show course designer.

“It’s very funny; when I was a kid doing hunter trials in Ireland, I was 16 or 17, and Alan was building the courses back then,” said Cournane, 36. “Now we’re at The Royal, and he’s building! It’s incredible.”

With less than a second separating the top four finishers, second place with a time of 29.09 seconds went to Canada’s Keean White aboard Tahiorn while third place was awarded to Daniel Bluman of Israel with a time of 29.18 seconds riding Colestina H. Rounding out the top four with a time of 29.58 seconds was Kent Farrington, the defending champion of the Royal Horse Show’s marquee event, the $205,000 Longines FEI Jumping World CupTM Toronto, riding Daddy Cool.

Keean White of Rockwood, ON, took second in the $36,000 Brickenden Trophy riding Tahiorn. Photo by Ben Radvanyi Photography

$36,000 Brickenden Trophy International Jumpers – Final Results

Thursday, November 8

     Rider                          Hometown        Horse                                        Faults/Time

1. Capt. Brian Cournane Ireland               Penelope Cruz                          0/0/28.69
2. Keean White              Rockwood, ON Tahiorn                                    0/0/29.09
3. Daniel Bluman           Israel                 Colestina H                              0/0/29.18
4. Kent Farrington         United States    Daddy Cool                              0/0/29.58
5. Karen Polle                Japan                 Sari                                           0/0/30.04
6. Nicole Walker            Aurora, ON      Falco Van Spieveld                  0/0/30.67
7. Ian Millar                   Perth, ON         Truman                                     0/0/31.96
8. Catherine Tyree         United States    Catungee                                  0/4
9. Rowan Willis             Australia           Shark                                        0/8
10. Amanda Derbyshire   Great Britain    Roulette BH                             4
11. Molly Ashe Cawley   United States     Cat Ballou                                4
12. Adrienne Sternlicht    United States    Fantast                                     5