As in the case down south, certain branches target these competitions and at the Iveagh grounds in Portadown there was a strong representation from the host club, whose Casey Webb won the open class with Gina Johnson’s nine-year-old home-bred Spirit Dancer gelding Hill Dancer.

Webb, who spends any free time she has working with the Smith brothers in Gilford, unfortunately slipped up on the flat with Hill Dancer in the CCIJ* at Tattersalls. Now back on song, they topped the dressage marks of Yvette Truesdale and show jumped clear before Hilary McClelland to complete on 93.5 points.

Second place on 90.5 points went to the Seskinore Branch’s Toby McAlpine, a regular competitor in the Dublin final, who had just arrived home from university in England. McAlpine was once again mounted on the nine-year-old Cyrano gelding Rum Jumbie, who Sophie Buller had evented during the spring in Junior C classes.

Dressage

Also representing Seskinore, Fergal McKinney won the intermediate qualifier on the well-known working hunter pony Kileatin Edition, completing on his dressage score of 89 points. McKinney has been working hard with the 11-year-old bay mare who is by the Connemara Templebready Fear Bui.

The Killultagh’s Hannah Blakely topped Truesdale’s assessment of the flat work phase with Kizzy but dropped to second when her mother Mandy’s nine-year-old bay mare lowered two fences.

Among those competing on Friday was the East Antrims’ Justine Harding who, along with Rachael Coulter, qualified for The Pony Club rider development pathway national camp in Cheshire.

A lot of work in organising this competition at the Richardson family’s farm was down to Susie Hamilton-Stubber and Rose de Courcey Wheeler who made it a wonderful afternoon for all. On Saturday, the action moved down to the Fell family’s Ballindenisk eventing venue, where the RDS qualifier was held in conjunction with Area 5’s Festival qualifiers in show jumping and dressage.

The winning riders here were the Copithorne sisters, Alice and Adrienne, representing the South Union Branch.

The former, whose total of 205 points in the open class included four show jumping penalties, rode the 11-year-old bay mare Fort Arthur Queen Bee with whom she has been competing in Junior one-star classes under Eventing Ireland rules and finished 12th in the CNC**at Clyda.

Two combinations completed on 182 points in the intermediate section, Adrienne Copithorne taking the honours thanks to her collective marks in the dressage phase. She was on board Fort Arthur Heart Of Gold, a seven-year-old chesnut mare who was third in a Junior C class at Clyda last year.