IF the weather is good, as it was, there isn’t a better venue for eventing in the country than Tyrella where, last Saturday, the Northern Region of Eventing Ireland staged their second one-day of the season under the Lightsource BP banner.

Many people took time out in the sun to walk to the top of the sand dunes from where they could follow much of the action. Having the start near the secretary’s unit, etc. really works well while those being entertained by Vina Buller, Judith Evans and their team in the hospitality marquee were quickly immersed into the excellent atmosphere which prevailed on Saturday.

It was a different story three days earlier according to the day’s assistant society steward, Stuart Stirling. “It was very wet and blowing a gale when we flagged the course on Wednesday,” he related. The rain was welcomed especially by Pat Turley who looks after the ground at Tyrella. “You have to be brave! We had water tankers ready but we waited and waited and then the rain came! All we had to do was roll and harrow the ground.”

It was a great pity, given the efforts by the Region, that there were only eight runners in the top-rated EI120 class with five of these being partnered by Sam Watson or Joseph Murphy. The former, who claimed the class on his winning dressage score with Imperial Sky (26.9 penalties) and finished second on Tullabeg Flamenco (35.4) who had a small number of time faults on both jumping phases, commented: “This is a real challenge for Eventing Ireland.

“We riders appreciate the efforts of the organisers in putting on these classes but they need to be subsidised. Four of the five of us who competed at the World Equestrian Games last year are based in Ireland and it’s great to think that we don’t have to load up our horses to get them to England to have a run. However, eight entries is a very poor return for the organisers.

“There was plenty to jump in the 115 class (where Watson was fifth on Ballybolger Talisman), while my two horses had a good warm-up in the 120 for the internationals ahead. I was delighted with them both but Imperial Sky’s performance was special. He was very good in all three phases and I don’t think any horse could have beaten him on Saturday.

“I hope to compete both in the five-star at Luhmühlen but they will follow slightly different paths to get there. For instance, Imperial Sky will go in the long format four-star at Ballindenisk (next week), as I need to build up his stamina, while Tullabeg Flamenco will do the short format. After that, I’d hope he would be competitive in the Event Riders Masters at Chatsworth (May 11th and 12th).”

Another early start for Kilkenny veterinary surgeon Alison Holden produced mixed results but she did double up on her Clyda (1) victory with husband Eamon’s O My Balladeer in Saturday’s EI115 (Open) class.

The 12-year-old My O My gelding picked up 5.2 cross-country time penalties and a surprise 0.8 of a time penalty over Aaron McCusker’s strong show jumping track but, on a total of 34, was able to hold off the challenge of Leila Barker on Ardeo Illusion (35.7). The three leaders after dressage had problems in one or other of the jumping phases.

Three of the 16 starters in the EI115 ran into problems across the country, while all but two of the remainder ran foul of the clock. Show jumping after the cross-country phase could have caught some of the younger horses out as the arena party was called into action following seven of the 13 combinations who took on the coloured poles.

Although accruing four jumping penalties in the final phase, Gilford’s Steven Smith recorded his first success of the campaign on the 11-year-old Porsch gelding Hi Happy Harry (29.9) whose owner, Terry Johnston, was the day’s society steward. A delighted Daniel Brown completed on his dressage score (30.7) to finish second with Fleur De Lis.

The busy Johnny Steele got on the scoreboard when claiming the five-runner EI110 (Open) with Alison Smith’s Creevagh Grey Rebel gelding Bluestone Ice.

The birch drop ab at five on the higher-graded tracks rode better than expected, while, as ever at this venue, many of those who were eliminated on the cross-country course frustratingly omitted fences.