Margie McLoone

MICHAEL Ryan was the busiest competitor at the inaugural Eventing Ireland National Championships in Ballindenisk last weekend with eight rides but he had a disappointing two days saved only by the victory of Beechfields Gold Digga in the TRI Equestrian EI 100.

On Saturday, 28 horses appeared before Britain’s Sue Stewart (C) and Co Down’s Vanda Robinson (M) whose combined scores had Melanie Young and Sorbet at the top of the leaderboard after dressage on 28.4 penalties. They were followed by Ryan’s wife Patricia on 29.8 with Matisse and Ian Cassells who was on 30 riding Silver Ridge.

As with other championships over the weekend, the cross-country phase caused plenty of problems but the top three maintained their positions. Michael Ryan closed in on the leaders when remaining on his dressage score of 32 with Beechfields Gold Digga as Rosemarie Ahern O’Gorman and Caroline Marwood, who had been joint-fourth on 31.3, dropped out of contention.

The former, who withdrew before the final phase, picked up 40 jumping penalties (and 16.4 for time) when Lissangle Lux The Business glanced off both the Bid-Media hedges (6ab) and the following Equi-Trek triple bars (7ab). Marwood accumulated 60 jumping penalties (and 29.2 for time) before persuading Ballygriffin Lester Man to negotiate the Eventing Ireland Water at 12.

This three-part fence brought an end to the round of Alice Copithorne on Fenyas Guidingstar while Eamon Wycherley was also eliminated with DOD Baltimore Harbour when jumping an incorrect fence at 10.

Three horses picked up 20 jumping penalties at the four-part Peter’s Problem (nine), including Michael Ryan’s second ride, The Secret Jewel (33.1 after dressage) who was another withdrawn before the concluding show jumping phase.

On Sunday, riders co-operated with the organisers as far as possible in jumping the Tony Hurley-designed track in reverse order of merit but it wasn’t always possible with the higher graded cross-country phases taking place at the same time. Patricia Ryan and Ian Cassells dropped down the order when Matisse and Silver Ridge picked up 12 and 20 faults respectively while Michael Ryan’s clear with Beechfields Gold Digga saw them complete on their dressage score of 32.

This put pressure on Melanie Young who, with no room for a jumping error, was faultless to the final 10th fence where Mary Guinness’s homebred six-year-old Sisyrinchium gelding Sorbet lowered the vertical second element of the double for a completion score of 32.4.

For the record, Louise Bloomer finished third (32.6) on her five-year-old Ars Vivendi gelding Hollybrook Hotshot, Clare Abbott placed fourth (33.6) with Cormac McKay’s six-year-old Gatsby gelding Kudos (another home-bred) while Brian Morrison slotted into fifth (36.8) with the eight-year-old former show jumper ASF Jimi Dublin. A costly 5.2 cross-country time penalties saw Aoife Quigley finish sixth (38.6) with her five-year-old Tinaranas Inspector gelding Rehy DJ.

“We bought this horse at last year’s Goresbridge Go For Gold Sale on behalf of one of our American owners, Sarah Wildasin,” said Ryan of Beechfields Gold Digga. “She was actually over with us last weekend and rode this fellow who will head to the States once he has done a CCI*.

“I thought the cross-country was a good, strong track, a proper championship track. The whole concept of a national championships is a very good idea although, as you’d expect in the first year, there are a couple of things that need tweaking. The prize-money is super,” he concluded, in reference to his mount picking up €200 for the win and an additional €2,000 bursary from Horse Sport Ireland as leading five-year-old in the class.

As for the rest of his weekend? “That’s life and that’s horses,” was Ryan’s stoic reply.

Beechfields Gold Digga was consigned to last November’s Go For Gold Sale by Gemma Phelan who had given the Boherdeal Clover gelding a few show jumping outings including in a four-year-old RDS qualifier at Galway EC. Ryan jumped the bay in two Dublin qualifiers this year.

The 2015 EI 100 national champion was bred in Co Limerick by James Ryan (who wins a €1,000 bursary from HSI) out of his Welcome Diamond mare Birdhill Lady whose 2005 son, Bay Carrick Road (by First Of Many) has competed at international three-star level in Britain.

The breeding of Beechfields Gold Digga appeared in the programme but that was not the case for all others – something one would expect at a national championships.

EI 90 CHAMPIONSHIP

Riding her 12-year-old thoroughbred mare Ballymacenallen Ariel, Amy Griffith became the first of four successful northern region riders of the weekend when landing the EI 90 championship on her dressage score of 32.8.

Here, only nine of the 21 starters completed the cross-country phase without the addition of jumping penalties.

Jessica O’Driscoll had a bad afternoon in the heavy rain. After stops at both the Bit-Media hedges and Peter’s Problem, she retired Rebels Skytime, who had led on 29.3 penalties following the dressage phase judged by Joan Ahern (C) and Liam Moloney (E). To compound matters, O’Driscoll was eliminated for jumping an incorrect fence 11 on the well-placed Shanaclough Contadora (31.9).

The three-part Eventing Ireland water proved the most influential fence on the course with four horses picking up 20 penalties here, while both Clonross Rococco (Shona Lynch) and DOD Dancing Rockette (Claire O’Rourke) were eliminated for three refusals.

As should be the case, Sunday’s show jumping phase also had its effect on the result but Shannon Sheridan would not have appreciated this fact. The Killusty rider went into the ring in the lead on her dressage score of 30.6 with Templebready Jocelyn but the inexperienced seven-year-old mare had three fences down to drop to fourth.

Fiona Fitzgibbon was the only one bar the winner to record a double clear when finishing third with the 10-year-old mare Lisnahall Miss Toffee (39.3) while the second-placed total (37.6) of Caroline Lynch and her six-year-old gelding Its A Capitalist included 3.2 for time across the country.