“WE were treated like royalty,” was the comment of Joanne Quirke on her return from the RoR (Retraining of Racehorses) National Championships Show which ran from last Thursday to Sunday at Aintree racecourse.

“I had entered the show anyway with Paddy (Forpadytheplasterer) but, when we won the IHWT Thoroughbred Club series final at Tullow, it meant the whole trip was sponsored,” said Quirke. “The travel costs were covered as was the stabling, while my groom Roisin Fitzpatrick and I were put up in the on-site Premier Inn.”

Quirke had entered Paddy in Saturday’s hunter-type class where he moved up from third to top the final line-up so, as he was qualified for the evening’s ridden championship, she decided not to take part in the side-saddle class with the 14-year-old Moscow Society gelding. The winners of the day’s 32 classes later came forward when, of the 10 who were placed, the three-time Dublin winner finished eighth.

Quirke and Forpadydeplasterer took part in a 12-horse parade on Sunday before the show’s championship, the Elite Series Final, where the judges just placed the supreme champion, the dual chase winner Beware Chalk Pit, a 12-year-old Anshan gelding bred in Co Meath by Helena Gaskin, and the reserve, the British-bred Mumtaz Begum, an 11-year-old mare by Kyllachy.

“Standards were very high all around,” said Quirke, “and, while you had a lot of amateur riders taking part, there was also the like of (leading show horse riders) Allistair and Oliver Hood.”

Also competing was attheraces presenter Luke Harvey, who finished second in the Jockeys Stakes on Purple Moon, a 13-year-old Galileo gelding.

Fresh from her first track success at Bellewstown on Thursday evening, Jeannie Cook, accompanied by fiancé/groom Paul Power, also travelled to Aintree with the Tullow reserve champion, Sizing Australia.

Not imagining that she would be riding at Aintree, Cook hadn’t entered any other classes at the show.

Supporting both Irish combinations at the Championships were box driver Kirsteen Reid and the CEO of the Irish Horse Welfare Trust, Sharon Power, who commented: “It was a fabulous weekend and we were all so pleased to be there flying the Irish flag - although there were lots of Irish-bred horses competing over the four days. The standard was extremely high and our two horse and rider combinations really did us proud.

“We are extremely grateful to Godolphin and The Turf Club for supporting the 2016 Show Series which included the opportunity for the two horses and riders to travel and compete at Aintree.”