THE third of this season’s qualifiers for the Connemara performance hunter and the performance Irish Draught championships at the Dublin Horse Show took place last Saturday at a sun-drenched Tullylish, home of the Stevenson family.

While all winning riders were pleased with their success probably not all were still on a high some days later as was Jane Richardson who partnered her own Bright Like A Diamond to victory in Section A of the older Irish Draught class.

“I really was very emotional when I heard I had won,” said Richardson who, next month, retires after 40 years working with the HSE, leaving in the position as radiography services manager. “I actually got Sarah (daughter) to check the figures before I looked at the board myself!

“While my horse won the younger Draught class at the RDS in 2015 when ridden by Niamh Grimes and was reserve champion, I had convinced myself that I needed another year with him before trying one of these qualifiers. We were second (2016) and sixth (2017) in the amateur hunter classes at Dublin and that’s where I thought I’d be headed again.

“We finished fourth in the performance Draught class at Balmoral and I suppose I started thinking about the Dublin qualifiers then, but just to myself! It was only a couple of weeks ago that I decided I would try one and I took the horse to Forth Mountain. We just had one fence down that day but got a poor mark for our flat work so I have worked hard on that since then and it has really paid off.”

That it definitely has done as Richards and Bright Like A Diamond held a commanding eight-point lead following the flat phase on Saturday. The eight-year-old KEC Bluejay Diamond gelding got a winning nine points for conformation and, although losing six points in jumping and a few for rhythm and fluency, completed on a total of 232 points to take the only qualifying ticket in this eight-runner section.

“There was a smashing track at Tullylish and I’m very proud of my achievement,” said Richardson who will be bringing husband Philip along as a good luck charm in the future as he was at both Balmoral and Saturday’s qualifier. “I have one other horse at home, the coloured warmblood Zanadoo. I’ve rather ignored him to concentrate on the Draught but will have plenty of time on my hands next month!”

Bright Like A Diamond was bred in Oulart, Co Wexford by Betty Byrne out of the Creggan Diamond mare Forest Lodge Damsel.

Having qualified a Connemara at Forth Mountain, rider Hannah Gordon and owner Liam Lynskey combined to land Section B of this older Irish Draught horse class with DS Ballagh Bouncer (230.5) who finished fifth in the younger horse class at Dublin last August.

Bred near Ballaghaderreen by Brendan Duffy out of a Mount Diamond Flag mare, the six-year-old grey stallion is by Moylough Bouncer who stands at Lynskey’s Derryronane Stud in Swinford.

There was a second qualifier in this section in Eamonn Darcy’s Lachain Blue Boy, a 13-year-old Blue Rajah gelding who achieved a score of 229 under Amanda Fahy. This combination was fifth at Dublin in 2014.

The busy Linda Murphy qualified one Gortfree Hero stallion for owner/breeder Sean Barker at Forth Mountain and followed up with another on Saturday at Tullylish where Gortfree Bounce landed Section A of the four and five year-old class.

CONFORMATION

Sharing the top flat score of 57 with Fintan Star, Gortfree Bounce received a winning nine-point score for conformation and, recording the only clear round, a top mark of eight for rhythm and fluency.

He completed on 234 points with Helen Keatley, who finished second to Richardson earlier in the day on Crossgales Silver Diamond, managing to qualify here on Belinda Brereton’s Fintan Star (228), a five-year-old gelding by Fintan Himself.

As with the Forth Mountain winner Gortfree Lakeside Lad, Gortfree Bounce is produced for Barker by the rider’s cousin Brian Murphy out of Pat Loughlin’s Gowran Hunt Horses’ yard. The five-year-old is out of the Grange Bouncer mare Derrynagarra Prudence.

The father and daughter team of Tom and Maria McNamara recorded a runaway victory in Section B where Cappa Winning Streak completed on a total of 233.5 which left him 11 points clear of the second-placed Silver Setanta (222.5), a four-year-old Mountain Diamond gelding owned and ridden by Ashley O’Sullivan.

Although the runner-up recorded the only clear round, Cappa Winning Streak was ahead of him in all other phases. The successful five-year-old, who is registered on CapallOir as Cappa Setanta, was bred by Jimmy Quinn and is one of just two registered foals by Quinn’s Cappa Cochise stallion Cappa Sky Boy out of the Coolcronan Wood mare Cappa Jewel.