THE Bellew family’s Co Monaghan venue of Cloncaw Equestrian once again came in for a lot of praise following the AIRC eventing qualifier which was hosted there last Sunday by Border Counties Riding Club.

On a perfect day weather-wise, it was great to see the event attract members of 20 clubs – some from as far away as Galway and Offaly – but it was disappointing that there weren’t more of them with just 58 entries in total. This is poor reward for the effort required into running an event such as this, especially at a venue where the standards are so high.