Tholm Keane was the man who got the outdoor season off to the perfect start at the Horseware Louth County Show this afternoon with a win in the opening leg of the TRM/Horseware National Grand Prix League.
The annual curtain raiser to the outdoor season, today's Grand Prix provided a tough opening leg to the jointly sponsored National Grand Prix League over Tom Holden's track ahead of tomorrow's opening leg of the TRM/Horseware Premier Series.
Keane was runner up in last year's Premier Series having led for most of the way only to be pipped on the final day by Eddie Moloney. Keane also placed 3rd in the National Grand Prix League last year while his main mount Warrenstown You 2 collected the Leading Horse prize for both leagues for his owner, Ronan Tynan.
Again partnering the Narcos Stallion owned the famous Tenor, Keane made no mistake in both rounds to run out an easy winner stopping the clock almost three seconds clear of his nearest rival in a time of 41.86.
Dermott Lennon gave chase behind the eventual winner with the very experienced Hallmark Elite clocking a time of 44.86 to slot into second.
Kildare based rider, Edward Doyle steered his home bred stallion, Samgemjee into third place with another double clear in 44.76. This combination has been very consistent over the last couple of seasons and despite not winning a Premier Series along the way, he has come very close on several occasions and should be a strong combination once more in tomorrow's Premier Series Grand Prix.
Recent winner of the Spring Tour leg at Barnadown, Gerard Clarke finished fourth with Horseware Ardragh Steing while Gary Quinn took fifth with Mullinroe.
Army Equitation School Rider Capt. Geoff Curran took another placing this season with the Minister for Defence's Mullaghbane in sixth.
Tomorrow sees the opening round of the 2013 TRM/Horseware Premier Series where there are 40 combinations set to tackle Tom Holden's track while other highlights at the show include the first Finals in the Irish Sporthorse Studbook Showjumping Series for 5, 6 and 7 Year Olds.
TRM/Horseware National Grand Prix - Horseware Louth County
€4,000 kindly sponsored by Kelleher Insurance
1st Tholm Keane/Warrenstown You 2 0/0 41.86
2nd Dermott Lennon/Hallmark Elite 0/0 44.38
3rd Edward Doyle/Samgemjee 0/0 44.76
4th Gerard Clarke/Horseware Ardragh Stein 0/0 44.89
5th Gary Quinn/Mullinroe 0/0 49.60
6th Geoff Curran/Mullaghbane 0/0 50.17