THE fourth and final round of the 2017 Young Event-Horse Series (YES!), which is used as a qualifying conduit for the Dublin Horse Show, took place on Wednesday at the new venue of Tullylish, Co Armagh.

Fortunately, Jim Stevenson had been able to cut his haylage field in advance, not only of the qualifier, but also the arrival of heavy rain throughout Monday and from 5am on Wednesday. Thankfully, it petered off as the competition began and the day eventually turned out pleasant and bright.

As at the one-day events here, the Stevensons’ haylege field was used for parking and for the two dressage arenas where the tests were judged by Yvette Truesdale and Joanne Jarden with suitability and potential coming under the watch of Jean Mitchell and Becky Cullen.

The jumping phase took place across the road where co-host Adam Stevenson had made excellent use of the many permanent fences and the terrain to produce a testing course but one which, apart from the show jumping element, appeared to suit the horses.

“I’d never gone to one of the qualifiers so this was all new to me,” he revealed. “There were more jumping efforts in what was a 1,200m track than in a 3,000m cross-country course. There was an awful lot going on for these young horses and one would think that a judge should be able to assess a horse over far fewer fences.

“Saying that, however, there were some absolutely stunning and honest horses out there today. Some of the four-year-olds got in close to the Trakehner (fence 14) while the ground fell away to the right at the log before the water (10) on the five-year-old course which caused a few problems.

“One good thing for me is that this part of the course is now ready for the Northern Region event here at the end of the month (Saturday, July 29th) so I can concentrate on the rest of the track,” concluded Stevenson.

STRESSED

It was noticeable that on this twisting track, riders just couldn’t drive their mounts at fences with Stevenson’s lines requiring balanced and rhythmic riding and horses seemed less stressed because of this.

Harold McGahern, chief organiser of the series, was delighted with the venue stating: “Tullylish set a new, high watermark for the YES qualifiers. Jim, Bronagh and Adam Stevenson provided a magnificent course that was universally appreciated.”

Also impressed on her visit north was Alison Corbally, Director of Breeding and Programmes with Horse Sport Ireland, sponsor of the YES! series through the Irish Sport Horse Studbook.

She and Nadia Rea have attended each leg of the series, as has Lar Sutton who has been recording the action on behalf of HSI.

The winners of the two five-year-old sections are now well-known to readers and it will be interesting to see how the pair fare in Dublin having won over most of the home-based judges who have assessed them.

RANDALSTOWN COMMANDO

In Section A, William Gibson’s Ricardo Z gelding Randalstown Commando won on a score of 388.60 points under Jonny Mulligan. Taking the first qualifying ticket on 381.55 was the Beach Ball gelding Smart Boy Jack who was ridden by Emily Corbett for Karen Dixon.

The bay, who competed in the EI90 at Glaslough and did a bit of registered jumping last year under the name Omard Hawaii Boy, was bred in Co Cavan by Brian O’Reilly out of the HHS BR Charlton mare Omard Charlies Angel. He is a full-brother to the Britain-based jumper Hawaii Beach.

Suzanne Hagan finished third on her own and Lindsay Klimacka’s OBOS Take One (374.10) who, unfortunately, was taking part in just his first YES competition and so isn’t eligible to qualify for Dublin. The brown OBOS Quality 004 gelding is a full-brother to the international eventers OBOS Impressive and OBOS Pepperpot, among others.

Also qualifying in fourth was the big-jumping Air Jordan Z mare Legaland Con Air (373.75) who was ridden for Cathy Cuffe by Ita McDermott. The Joe Reilly-bred bay is out of the Cavalier Royale mare Cheeky Rossa.

Clear rounds were scarce throughout the day, Emma Jackson landing Section B on her lovely gelding Carra Lux Quality who, in spite of eight jumping penalties, topped the scoring on 399.75 points.

The chesnut ‘won’ the suitability and presentation phase judged by David Kirkpatrick, who we were delighted to see was accompanied by his wife Charlotte, while the jump S&P judge, Tom Doherty, was most taken with the unplaced Golden Master mare Ballymurphy Peg who was ridden by Adrian Burrell for Kevin McDermott.

With Burrell’s second-placed Chantilly All Quality (395) also having qualified previously, the first Dublin ticket went to the Daisy Duggan-ridden Kilcandra Orestus (385.70), an Orestus gelding bred by Vincent Cousins out of the Hallodri mare Beavers Bugsy Malone, dam previously of the four-star eventer Harbour Pilot C.

Also qualifying with clear rounds were the Ars Vivendi mare Ogue Niamh (383.95), ridden by Kate Keenan for Peter O’Toole, and Mary Kehoe’s Omar mare Omaybe (382) whose rider, Jason Higgins, was among the purchasers at this week’s Tattersalls Ireland Derby Sale.