The weather was perfect and the cross-county course, which ran in the opposite direction to last year, was well-presented by Johnny Bellew and his team, who had made quite a few changes in the interim.

Gone was the dreaded elephant trap to be replaced by a trakenher while, alongside, the ditch had been revamped and introduced into the advanced primary class. Other new fences included a coffin and a bank drop before the water.

Unfortunately, entries overall were disappointing although riders travelled from as far away as Dalysgrove and Donegal and, from feedback, all competitors enjoyed their trip around the track.

Only one rider, Ann Bowe, competed in the open and, on board her Ashfield Festy nine-year-old, Festy Breeze, the Castle Leslie representative would have finished on her dressage score of 44 had it not been for a stop coming out of the water.

The largest entry of the day was in the advanced intermediate where 24 riders competed.

The hosts’ Rosemary Bellew led after dressage on 27.5 penalties with Cloncaw Chief. They were followed by Ashbrook’s John Gavin and Guaranteed Gold on 31. While the latter picked up eight show jumping penalties to drop out of contention, the Border Counties chairman was clear in both jumping phases with her 15-year-old piebald gelding.

Hopes of a one-two for the club came to nought when Bellew’s sister, and club secretary, Carol McQuillan, who was on 32 penalties going into the final phase, had a run-out at the B element of the lane crossing with her thoroughbred gelding Mr Brown.

Stepping into the breach was Killossery’s Liz Keegan who completed on her flat work score of 33.5 with her seven-year-old Flagmount Clover Diamond mare Summer Tricks.

Castle Leslie’s Lucinda Blakiston Houston finished third on her homebred seven-year-old mare Beltrim Full Moon (34).

Most surprisingly, there was a very poor entry of just 14 for the intermediate class where Stephen McAvinchey took an early lead on 21 penalties with his Irish Sport Horse mare Scattery Katie.

The Ashbrook combination show jumped clear but picked up 20 jumping penalties at the water which dropped them to fifth.

Moving up a place to fill the vacated top spot was Boyneside’s Sarah Hennessy who completed on her first phase score of 25 with her 14-year-old Lester Lad gelding Jacks The Lad.

Double clears also resulted in Castle Leslie’s Conor Meehan finishing second (36.5) with Sonnys Mount while his teammate, Enda McKenna, moved up the leaderboard to claim third spot with Smoke Eye Joe (38).

Members of the Border Counties club filled the top three placings in the last class of the day, the advanced primary.

Emma McKenna led after dressage on 26.47 with her six-year-old Classic Vision gelding Mill Races Diamond but, although clear on the final phase, had a costly pole down show jumping to drop to second.

She was replaced at the top of the leaderboard by Laura Murphy Finn who completed on her flatwork mark of 29.41 with her 13-year-old grey gelding Setanta Express.

Riding Cloncaw Smartie, Dean O’Neill finished third on his dressage score of 30.59 being nearer the optimum time than Castle Leslie’s Shane McKeever on KHS Impact.

Border Counties also ran two non-qualifying classes, both of which were won by members of the neighbouring Castle Leslie club.

Francis Duffy landed the three-runner young horse section with Franco while Orla Seehan was unopposed on her way to claiming the Inter B on Sun Shine Minty Boy.