LAST Sunday Rainbow Farm in Oldcastle played host to the Ballymacad Foxhounds’ Dublin Horse Show hunt chase qualifier.

As it was the second last qualifier, there was a great turnout with hunt clubs from around the country travelling to the Co Meath venue in a bid to gain all-important league points ahead of today’s league final, which is being hosted by the Fingal Harriers. The 11 teams with the most league points will progress to the championships at this year’s Dublin Horse Show.

A total of 13 teams lined out to take on a stunning course designed by Anne-Marie Galligan, with the help of Balymacad hunt members. The course included a birch shoot and a fairly significant ditch with water.

The ditch was so significant that a bottle of champagne was put forward by the hosts for the first person to come into difficulty. However, these competitors are all well used to ditch country and in the end the bottle of champagne was awarded to Conor Murphy for the most spectacular handover.

Most of the teams played it safe in the opening rounds, trying to get a handle on the challenging track. The Kildare Foxhounds, Ballinagore Harriers, Ballymacad Foxhounds, Fingal Harriers, Donegal Harriers, and Leitrim Harriers all won their opening rounds.

Round two was fast and furious and then it was on to the semi-finals. At this stage the competition was really heating up, the Ballymacads were hungry for a win on home turf and rightly earned their place in the final when beating the Ballinagores. The Kildares battled it out with Leitrim in their semi-final, but in the end the Kildares’ faultless round earned them a spot in the final against the home team.

THE FINAL

The course was shortened for the final, to exclude the ditches, making it a real test of speed. Both teams were evenly matched and there was nothing separating the first riders as Maria Doyle passed the whip to Helen Keatley for the Kildares and Graham Dempsey handed over to Edel Tuite for the Ballymacads.

Keatley gained a stride or two on Tuite and a flawless hand over to Leanne O’Sullivan gave the Kildares a slight advantage over the Ballymacads third rider Shane Costello. O’Sullivan maintained the lead and the final hand over to Tadhg Dooley put the Ballymacads’ final rider Andie McEntee under pressure to make up lost ground.

Dooley took no prisoners and the Kildares finished with a fence in hand to give the Kildares their first league victory.

Kildare chef d’equipe Richard Sutton was thrilled with his team’s performance, as was the runners-up chef d’equipe David O’Reilly.

The hunt chase championships takes place on Sunday, August 13th in the main arena at the Dublin Horse Show.