WEXFORD’s John Keane won the first four-year-old young event horse class staged at the Dublin Horse Show in 2006 with the traditionally-bred Crosstown Dancer gelding All The Aces. Last Thursday week, Keane’s daughter Alyson was the owner of the 2024 winner, Leave It With Me Cal M2S.

Registered with the Warmblood Studbook of Ireland and bred in Co Clare by Claire Wood and Morningside Stud, the Ciaran Moran-partnered mare is a daughter of Ulysses M2S. The bay’s dam is the Dutch Warmblood mare Bumblebee Rose M2S (by Hornet Rose). Connections of the winner will receive an extra €1,000 for having the highest-placed mare in the class.

Keane and Moran purchased their winner privately at the end of last year. “She had been backed at that stage, but was quite weak,” revealed the rider of the bay, who is for sale. “However, she qualified first time out for us at Tullylish. She had a four-week break after Scarteen and has just been doing a bit of show jumping in the run up to Dublin. She has a great attitude.”

Moran and Leave It With Me Cal M2S led after Wednesday’s presentation phase of their class on 32.3 and were one of five combinations to amass 30 marks or more. It was good to see Jason Doerflinger in second place with the McDonaghs’ Irish Sport Horse gelding CSF Hollypark Giuseppe (31.9), as he was out of action for a very long time last winter with a badly broken leg. Kilkenny-based John Tilley was in third place at this stage with Andrew Williams’s ISH gelding Borris Cornet Coole (31.5).

Of the first six on the leaderboard following day one, only Moran and Leave It With Me Cal M2S held on to their full 45 jumping marks in the Main Arena. At the conclusion of the class, the rider was presented with the Lt Col Ronnie MacMahon perpetual challenge trophy following his victory on a total 94.8 marks, which left him well clear of veterinary surgeon Ciara Kinsella on her home-bred ISH mare Tykillen Shindig (92.8).

This daughter of Dignified van’t Zorgvliet is a five-year-old, but could compete in the younger class, as she had a filly foal (Tykillen Tia) last year by Tyson.

Tilley finished a close up third on Borris Cornet Coole (92.6), whose percentage of thoroughbred blood (5.8) was less than that of Tykillen Shindig (6.3). The horse with the highest percentage of thoroughbred blood (7.5) was the Valent mare Bellavent, who finished fourth (91.7). This full-sister to Cooley Rosalent (CCI5*-L) and Jewelent (CCI4*-L) was ridden by Rachael Thompson for her breeder Woods Rosbotham and family.

Well-produced

Co Meath’s John Bannon, who continues to dominate the three-year-old potential event horse class at Dublin, slotted into fifth with his ISH gelding Derena Live Wire (90.5), just ahead of Doerflinger on CSF Hollypark Giuseppe (90.4).

“We saw some really lovely horses over the past two days,” commented Britain’s Laura Collett, who judged the young event horse classes along with fellow countrywoman Annabel Scrimgeour and New Zealand’s Andrew Nicholson, who was paying his first ever visit to the Dublin Horse Show. “They were well produced and knew their jobs.”

It’s hard to believe that when the first young event horse class was held here at Dublin in 2006, many of the competitors threatened not to ride, as they thought the course in the Main Arena was too difficult. They were persuaded to change their minds by the late Lt Col Ronnie MacMahon and his great friend, the late Harold McGahern. They were both among the founding members of the Future Event Horse League, which has since morphed into the Young Eventhorse Series.