OULART’s Kate Rath-Doyle and her mother Mai paid their first visit to the Balmoral Show last week and were rewarded on Thursday morning when landing the North Down Marquees ridden Connemara pony championship with Monaghanstown Rory.

Winner of the six-year-old and upwards class, this 13-year-old Currachmore Cashel gelding was bred in Co Westmeath by Mary Rabbitt out of the Village Boy mare Monaghanstown Cindy. The winner of the four and five-year-old class, and reserve champion, was Killinchy’s Emily McGowan and her 2015 Templebready Fear Bui gelding Tullaree Fear Bui.

Frederiksminde Mellow, who was purchased as a yearling in Denmark, recorded a repeat success in the in-hand class. In foal to the owner’s Cashel Bay Prince, who is running with his mares, Robbie Fallon’s 10-year-old Hazy Dawn mare was shown on Thursday by Michael Harty.

Experience on the part of pony and/or rider counted in the afternoon’s Connemara working hunter championship, which was also sponsored by North Down Marquees. Not for the first time, the title was awarded to the 21-year-old Ferdia gelding Blackwood Fernando who was ridden for her mother Claire by Alicia Devlin Byrne and was bred in Co Galway by Patrick McNamara out of the Mervyn Pookhaun mare Dancing Queen.

Phoebe Beaumont filled the reserve slot with her mother’s Jan’s Edie, a 13-year-old Castleside JJ gelding bred in Co Derry by William McCloskey out of Carraig Ban (by Castleside Carrig) and winner of the class for riders under 16.

The Bangor combination reappeared on Saturday in the competitive 143cms working hunter pony class which they won en route to claiming the championship ahead of the 133cms winner Tinnecarrig Milo. This seven-year-old dun gelding was ridden by Co Wicklow’s Jasper Kelly for his mother Lucy.

The other class winners in this section were Jim McDonald’s skewbald mare Greenfield Apache (starter stakes) and Isabelle Nally’s well-known Connemara gelding Benny Liath, a son of Earl of Newbridge.

POWERFUL

Two powerful yards in Ulster fought out the show hunter pony championship.

Portaferry’s Ellie McDonnell and her mother Mary’s 10-year-old Holyoake Czar gelding Goldengrove Sunrise won the 133cms class for the fourth year running but, as was the case 12 months ago, they had to settle for the reserve slot.

This time the title went to the 153cms class winner, Leave It To You, a 10-year-old by Brief Encounter who was ridden for Gillian Torrens’s Greenacres Stud and Equestrian Centre in Convoy, Co Donegal by Eva McClurg.

The British-bred bay gelding was imported into this country last year with an impressive CV. He was lightly shown in his first season here but won at the Northern Ireland Festival in Cavan and finished third in his class at Dublin. He was making his first appearance of 2018 at Balmoral last week and a return visit to the RDS is on the cards.