ASHFORD’s Lucinda Kelly certainly enjoyed her trip down to Forth Mountain on Thursday for the RDS Connemara performance hunter qualifiers.

The managing director of a retail tech company, Kelly won the sole class for eight- to 15-year-olds on her own Killaneen Boy and finished third in Section A of the five- to seven-year-old class on her mother Avril’s home-bred Dunran Love In The Mist. Both have qualified for the finals at Lambertstown next month.

Killaneen Boy, who has a wealth of show ring experience behind him both on the level and in performance classes and won the younger pony championship at Dublin in 2017, is a nine-year-old stallion by Western Boy. The dun was bred in Co Sligo by Steven O’Beirne but Kelly purchased him from the late, and much-missed, Colm Costello.

Killaneen Boy had a hectic couple of days this week as his equally busy owner/rider explained. “On Wednesday, he covered two mares naturally, went for a cross-country school and was then brought to Hartwell Stud for AI. He’s getting a combination of sport horse mares and Connemaras, is very fertile and is still available for late mares.

“He was wrecked in the heat at Forth Mountain but I was really delighted with his performance.” The dun set himself up for victory when winning the flatwork phase.

As the second- and third-placed ponies here, the Alicia Devlin Byrne-ridden Blackwoodland Breeze (240.5) and the Celina Kehoe-partnered Horetown Boy (234.5) had already qualified, the other Lambertstown tickets went to the Amber Marnane-ridden Danny’s Pride (231.5) and the Carina Crowley-owned and ridden Lady Renaniree (227).

Second pony

In Section A of the five to seven-year-old class, Dunran Love In The Mist finished on 228 behind the previously-qualified Belmont Danny Boy (240), the five-year-old Gurteen Dara gelding ridden by Edie Murray Hayden for Geraldine MacCann, and the similarly aged Rosscon Abbey Tom Boy mare Dunabbey (231.5) who was partnered by Romy Bolger.

Brian Horgan’s Castlemir Queen, who has 12 SJI points and finished third in an EI90 (P) class at Kilguilkey in June, won Section B on a total of 234.5 points under the owner’s daughter Lily. The seven-year-old Moorland MacDara mare was bred by Joseph Kiely out of Corbally Queen (by Kingstown Boy), dam also of the Ashfield Jovial Joker gelding Ballyvary Padraig (CCIP2*-L).

The second qualifier in this class was the Judy Quirke-owned, Evie Quirke-ridden Blackwood Killamaster (228). This seven-year-old Blackwoodland Rock gelding has 54 SJI points.