THE benefits of Eventing Ireland, and other equestrian organisations, being affiliated to Horse Sport Ireland were obvious this year with the national governing body providing much needed sponsorship towards the end of the season.

The HSI EI110 series ran at five venues from early September to early October with the final taking place on day one of the second Punchestown event on Saturday, October 10th when 30 combinations started. Three of these were eliminated including Jonny Steele with the Caroline Keatley-owned and bred Centre Stage gelding Zermatt who, despite ending up pointless on this occasion, finished second in the league on 21 points.

Sixth on the final day, which garnered him two points, was the Clare Abbott-ridden Malcolm X and this nine-year-old Vechta gelding topped the overall leaderboard on 27 points. This was a remarkable achievement for a horse who was out of action for three years and a great testament to the patience shown and care he received from owner Dougie Sloan and his partner, Fiona Wilson.

The latter had purchased Malcolm X as a foal from Banbridge’s Judith McClelland who bred the bay out of Brookhall Lady. That Touchdown mare is dam also of the 2010 Vechta gelding Black Ice (CCI3*-L) and the 2013 Sir Shutterfly mare Bikini (CCI3*-L).

Malcolm X was one of the top young event horses in the country as a five- and six-year-old but, unfortunately, suffered a serious injury when winning at Kircubbin in September 2017. He spent the following year recuperating and strengthening up with Abbott but, once back in full work, he got a bad cut out in the field and so missed his eight-year-old season. The league winner will be competing out of a new yard in 2021.

The winner at the final was the Rehy High Society gelding Rehy Royal Occasion who was ridden for retired Co Wexford farmer Henry Phipps by Patrick Whelan. This seven-year-old gelding is also out of a Touchdown mare, in this instance Rehy Summer, and so is a full-brother to, among others, Rehy Lucky (CCI4*-S).

As his dam died in foaling Rehy Royal Occasion, the chesnut was raised on a bottle by his breeder Mark Russell. He was purchased as a show horse by Phipps’s wife Wendy and, under Rosemary Connors, was placed in his middleweight class at Dublin as a four-year-old. In England, where he was ridden by the late Rory Gilsenan, he qualified for the middleweights at the Royal International on the flat, while, in working hunters, he was second in his novice class at Hickstead and won his novice class at the Festival of Hunting.

HSI also sponsored an EI110 class for six-year-olds at both Punchestown events. On Sunday, July 26th, three weeks after the season commenced, 20 combinations started. Here, Sam Watson took the honours on his wife Sparkles’s Chesterfield Willpower, one of just two horses to complete on his dressage score. This brown gelding by Puissance was bred in Co Wicklow by Michael and Mary Kelly.

On Saturday, October 10th, when just 10 combinations lined-out, the plaudits went to Declan Cullen and Ultimate Quality who were completing a quick double having landed an unrestricted EI110 at Hillcrest (2) the previous weekend. Cullen’s OBOS Quality 004 gelding, who has 62 Show Jumping Ireland points, was bred in Co Cavan by Mervyn Clarke Jnr and Johnny O’Hanlon out of the Limmerick mare Lady Latt who jumped to Grade C herself.