TWENTY days’ hunting has been the making of Sheena Hanley’s Lux Cosmic who won the RDS small event horse qualifier at Ravensdale Lodge on Thursday under Graiguenamanagh-based veterinary surgeon Diarmuid Ryan.

“I had him out with the Scarteens, Galway Blazers, Killinicks and with the Fingal Harriers around Garristown where there are some very big drains,” said Ryan who recorded one of five jumping clears on the Lux Z six-year-old, barely a second under the time.

“You have to get the odd bit of luck!” he remarked about his race against the clock.

“I’ll probably bring him to Forth Mountain next week as it’s close enough to home but will then concentrate more on his show jumping. This fellow jumped in the RDS as a four-year-old with Olive Clark but things just didn’t go to plan after that. Damien Griffin jumped him for the first half of last year, mainly in the Irish Sport Horse classes, but he was then sent to me for the winter.

“He’s on the market so if anyone wants to buy him, and the ticket to Dublin, he’s there to be bid on. The owner has his four-year-old half-brother by Baloubet Du Rouet who did a few hunter trials in the spring and was then let off. He’ll only come back in when this fellow has gone!”

The Co Roscommon-bred Lux Cosmic is out of the Radolin mare Vanir Mandolin, a half-sister to the Beach Ball siblings HHS Comporta Beach and Little Beach and from the family of BT Cloud Nine. Ryan will be back at Ravensdale Lodge today with two Irish Draughts and four Connemaras for the RDS qualifiers.

Also qualifying on Thursday for Dublin’s small event horse class was Heidi Haenschke’s Beach Ball mare Annaghmore Ardeo Beach who was bred in Co Donegal by John Dooley out of a Don Juan De La Bouverie mare.

She was ridden here by Eva Melly who has been competing with the seven-year-old in Eventing Ireland Junior one-star classes. The chesnut has 75 SJI points to her credit, accumulated when she jumped under the name Annaghmore Juanita Beach.

Lux Cosmic had been at Scarteen the previous week as had the Sharon Power-owned and ridden Stonehavens Master Class and Cruising Caricello, ridden by Christine O’Donnell for her mother Miriam. There, with faults, they had finished third and fourth respectively.

The pair went clear on Thursday but too far under the optimum time of 190 seconds to claim the qualifying slots and again filled the minor placings. There were two withdrawals from a start list of 10.