FOLLOWING a baking hot day on Wednesday, there was cloud cover and a breeze for the fourth and final leg of the Young Eventhorse Series at Rincoola on Thursday.

“We built a new water jump this year but, it was so hot on Wednesday, that the water evaporated and I had to get my obliging husband (Damien Sheridan) to bring in a tanker to fill it up again!” commented Angela McGahern, one of the driving forces behind the series.

There was an international flavour to the four-year-old division with Britain’s Laura Birley landing Section A on Richard Ames’s Belline Gucci while, riding for Carol Gee, Italian native Luca Bortolamei won Section B with KHH Malito Park who was bred by The Irish Field’s Advertising Sales and Marketing Manager, Brendan McArdle, and his partner, Sarah Crosbie.

If the breeders were surprised to learn that the Section B winner was eventing, and not show jumping as they thought when selling him as a foal, it was nothing compared being informed when the Irish Sport Horse was born, that he was by the Selle Français stallion Malito de Reve. This was not the mating they planned for his dam, HHS Central Park.

While that Don Juan de la Bouverie mare was bred by Thomas Hughes and was mainly jumped as a youngster by Marion Hughes and her husband, Miguel Bravo, she was purchased as a five-year-old by McArdle and Crosbie. The latter jumped her from late in 2006 right through to the summer of 2012; in 2008, they competed in the seven-year-old final at the RDS.

As part of the deal, Marion Hughes got to breed the mare’s first foal, HHS Savanna (a 2016 filly by Dignified van’t Zorgvliet). That bay was followed by KHH Malito Park, KHH Clarimo Park (a 2020 colt by Clarimo) and, this year, a filly by Aganix du Seigneur Z who will be retained for breeding. McArdle and Crosbie currently have five broodmares who this year produced four foals, all fillies, three of whom will be sold.

On Thursday, KHH Malito Park qualified on his winning score of 273.5 points ahead of a trio of owner-ridden four-year-olds: Aoife Quigley’s Orestus gelding Kilcandra JT (270.1), John Bannon’s Future Trend mare Greannanstown Lockdown (266.7) and Aubrey Chapman’s Olympic Lux gelding Ws Ollie BE (264.5).

Based at Belline Estate Equestrian, Laura Birley has two horses qualified for next month’s final with Belline Gucci (272.8) due to join the Scarteen winner, KIEF Amazing Marco, on the Lambertstown start list. The Rincoola winner, who was bred in Co Tipperary by Patrick Hough, is by Watermill Swatch out of Lordspark Silver (by Silvano).

As the second here, John Bannon’s owner-ridden Tolan R gelding Chance Given (268.9) was already qualified, the ticket passed on to the third-placed traditionally bred Nazar Imp (265.9), a Nazar mare partnered by Patrick Whelan for John Byrne who bred the bay out of Imperial Miss (by Master Imp).

Having already qualified for the final, Patrick Byrne put some icing on the cake by winning Thursday’s sole five-year-old class on board the ISH mare BGS Rocket Fuel (301), a daughter of Quantino who was home-bred by Paddy Byrne out of BGS Duel Fuel. That Lux Z mare is a half-sister to, among others, the Capitalist gelding BGS Star Attraction (CCI4*-S).

Hannah Gordon claimed the first of four qualifying tickets on her father Matt’s Harvey Specter who finished second on 299.4. Produced out of Liam Lynskey’s Derryronane Stud, this OBOS Quality 004 gelding, who has competed successfully under Show Jumping Ireland rules, was bred by Pat Sherlock out of the Boswell Mr Heart Breaker mare Creggane Abbie, a half-sister to the Lux Z gelding MB Airborne Magic (CSI4*).

With seven of the 12 entries in the RDS Junior/Young Rider event horse class having already secured a ticket for next month’s final, the first of three awarded on Thursday went to the sixth-placed combination of Ciara Dennigan and the David Harrison-owned and -bred six-year-old OBOS Quality 004 mare Cailin Ellie (279.5).

The class winner, for the third time in three starts in the four-leg series, was Bryan Bourke with his father Donal’s five-year-old Killea Quality Cruise (291) who is out of a Cruising mare. Becky Coonan finished close up in second on her mother Susanna’s seven-year-old Master Quality Imp (290.5) who is out of a Master Imp mare. These two geldings are also by OBOS Quality 004 as were two others in the class.