The opening day's action saw a lot of horses competing for their places in the final days' championships and Drew McCusker of McCusker stabling was especially impressed with the numbers and again was proud to be associated with Kill International as one of their sponsors.

Thursday's evening feature class the two phase 1.40m saw Conor Swail take the first big class of the week on O'Connor and Swail stables Uretto.

Francis Connors on A.Kehoe's Westwinds Cirracruise and Tholm Keane on R.Tynan's Warrenstown Well Aware claimed second and third places in this Allianz sponsored class. Following on from Thursday's action,
Friday's Gains Mini Grand Prix set a precedent for some top quality jumping for the weekend. With 79 going to post 30 made it through to the jump off.

Still on form from a placing in the previous evenings two phase on Mary Lou Cassonne's Cinemax Kill International based rider Neal Fearon on Vladimer Van Het Lambroeck, owned by Malcom Stuart and Denis Flannelly took the crown in this class.

Second in the line up was P. Boardman's Bonjour Vieux Pont Vdm with Trevor Breen whilst C. Doyle's Flexing and Edward Doyle from Rathmore came third.

Sponsored by Gain animal feeds, their representative Amy Lynott said that it was "great to see such a pool of young riders competing and that the future looks very strong for the sport".

Not deterred by the wet weather or Halloween there was still a huge turn out for the action on Saturday. One class that drew a huge interest was the Bridge House Stud Four Year Old class.

Always an exciting chance to spot future horse talent and with a passion for the sport, Bridge House Stud are always keen to see potential superstars climbing up the show jumping ranks. Trevor and Elizabeth Badger stand a range of quality stallions including
Castleforbes Vivaldo in their stud in Mullingar, Co Westmeath.

Speaking to Elizabeth after the event she was still excited about the jumping she just watched and said that they were delighted to be sponsoring this event and that for certain she "didn't envy the judges job to place the final six as the standard was so high."

It was Alex Butler on T. Curran's Castle Quality who won the four year olds after the final six made their way back in for a second judging in the Allianz Olympic arena.

After an exciting climax to the young horse class and the remaining qualifiers successfully ran tension began to mount for one of the most anticipated classes of the calendar year in Kill International as the Allianz Puissance wall was erected.

Sixteen brave horse/rider combinations declared for the class with the opening wall standing at 5ft4. Course designer Seamus Casey stood poised watching and said that he was hopeful that some records could be broken.

By round four most competitors had been knocked out and first to attempt the massive wall of 6 ft 7 was Kill International's Denis Flannelly on Mary Lou Cassone's Euphoria.

Jumping with ease in his previous round he was unfortunate to have a rub of the wall which tipped one of the bricks giving him four faults.
Next in was Mark Kinsella on Cian O'Connor's Calista MS, he also was unfortunate to hit the wall adding four faults also to his final round.
With all to play for the weight of the class hung on Killian Brown's shoulders as he entered on Cyril Van De Mespil Z, but alas the final wall was not to be cleared.

In the end the winning of the class was shared by Denis, Mark and Killian. Although no record was broken on this occasion course designer Seamus was delighted with the quality of jumping that this class attracted.

Action on the fourth day of the Champions kicked off. The outdoor classes were sponsored by McCusker Stabling whilst the 1.20 and 1.30 finals were held in the Allianz Olympic arena and sponsored by The Dew Drop Inn in Kill.

Paul Lenihan from the Dew Drop was on hand to make presentations and complimented the running of the show.

Indeed the Dew Drop Inn in Kill village featured a special show menu which included the Amazing black rock grill, which is a unique dining experience that enables you to cook your own steak, in the luxury of a lovely restaurant. Taking the honours in the Allianz 1.10 final was Darryl Walker on F Carew's Made in Avilion.

The 1.20 was won by Michael Whyte on Team OMS's Oh Dearest and the 1.30 final won by Michael Hutchinson on E. Hutchinson's Lee Ann. There was a consistency in the performance of the both the 1.20 class and the 1.30 as both horse/riders had also won their qualifiers earlier in the week.
Bringing the show to a most exciting climax was the prestigious Allianz Grand Prix with a large prise fund on offer it is run as part of the National Grand Prix Autumn League and following on from his last win in the National Grand Prix league Conor Swail returned to the Grand Prix circuit with another impressive win in the Allianz Olympic arena at Kill International Equestrian Centre.

This was his second main win of one of the feature classes of the show.
With 63 going to post over the Tom Holden track sixteen horse/rider combinations jumped clear to make it through to the jump off, which speaking to Tom beforehand was an amount he was aiming for.

First into the jump of was Alexander Butler who set the pace well bringing Will Wimble home clear in a time of 40.08. He held his lead well until Swail came in aboard Norman Allen's Cara Touche to slice Butler's time with 38.92.

Next in Australian rider Scottie Barclay based at Straffan jumped looked on target to take on Swail's time, however, a wide turn to one of the fences cost him a couple of seconds slipping him into third place.

There was a cutting edge to the competition as the rest of the competitors tried to reach top spot right until the end. Final rider Trevor Breen came home with the fastest time of 37.92, but was unfortunate to have a rail down. The win for Swail means that he will now top the board for the national Grand Prix league sponsored by Botanica/Showjumping Ireland.

This certainly rewarded the crowd around the Allianz arena to a fabulous finale of the four day tournament. Joe Campbell from Allianz and Fintan Flannelly from Kill International were delighted with the quality of jumping and the attendance the show attracted. The cherry on the cake was the buzz that the television crew and well known commentator Norman O'Byrne from Kill village created.

Many thanks to all the sponsors for their continued support and sponsorship of the Champions of the year show. Pictures taken over the four days can be viewed on www.jumpinaction.net.
For more information on upcoming events see www.killinternational.ie.