THE second leg of the Horse Sport Ireland and Dressage Ireland autumn development series was held last Saturday at the Ryan family’s Tipperary Equestrian Centre outside Thurles where some excellent results were recorded by horses bred in this country.

The two home-based members of the Irish team who qualified for the Tokyo Olympics, Kate Dwyer and Heike Holstein, were in action with the former striking twice in qualifying classes on the Irish Sport Horse mare Harmony who she jointly-owns with her mother, Maureen.

In the two-runner Elementary class confined to Irish-bred six-year-olds, which was judged by Jillie Rogers, Dwyer and Harmony scored 73.97% to narrowly claim the honours ahead of Holstein’s winner from the first leg at Greenogue, Kingston Forget Me Not (73.79), an ISH mare by Furstenball.

Harmony, who is by the Hanoverian stallion Blue Hors Hotline (CDI5*), was bred by Dermot Cannon out of the Danish Warmblood mare Florestina L who the breeder competed at Advanced Medium level.

“Sadly, Harmony was Florestina’s only foal,” said Cannon who is chairman of Dressage Ireland’s judges’ committee. “She was by Florestan whose ‘grandchildren’ are inclined to exhibit more of his genes that his ‘children’. I decided to use Blue Hors Hotline as you could get frozen semen from him. Maureen and Kate Dwyer bought Harmony from me as a four-year-old and I’m delighted she is in such good hands.

“Kate was away a lot last year on the international circuit so wasn’t able to devote much time to the mare but things have been very different this season.”

Cannon, who was on duty on Saturday judging some of the higher graded classes, said of the lower level competition: “I glanced across every now and again and was impressed with the overall presentation which is improving all the time. There were some lovely horses competing who were very well ridden.”

Dwyer and Harmony were also on target in the Elementary qualifying class where Ann Glynn awarded the Dunboyne-based combination her top marks of 72.76%. Here, there was a divide for second between Bethany Mackey (Bliss) and Alana Cazabon (Rockmount Elsa) who were both on a score of 70.69.

It was good to see two Northern Region members among the 10 who came before Cannon in the Medium qualifier which Dwyer won with the ISH gelding Vaalserberg (71.76%). The eight-year-old grey by S Creevagh Ferro was bred in Co Meath by Catherine Gorman out of Graigs Taloubet Star (by Taloubet VDL). The only other combination to score over 70% was Limerick’s Tara Oliver with her British-bred gelding Senators Rhonaldo (70.15), a six-year-old by Rhondeo.

“I think this series was a great idea as it gave riders something to aim at,” said Dwyer who loved doing all the team training, organised by Horse Sport Ireland for the high performance squad, over the summer. “It’s great to see dressage, and dressage riders, in Ireland being recognised like this. I plan to bring my horses to the qualifier in Abbottstown (next Sunday, October 18th) and then to the final back there on November 1st.”

For the second week running, the Grand Prix was won by Heike Holstein on the home-bred Sambuca who, on this occasion, was awarded a personal best score of 74.02% by Mark Ruddock. Registered with the Breeders Elite Studbook for Irish and European Sporthorses, the 11-year-old brown mare by Samarant is out of the Limmerick mare Astoria who comes from the family of Accolade (WEG-D) and Magennis (CCI4*).

At time of writing, Holstein and Sambuca were set to compete at this weekend’s CDI3* at Keysoe in England, a show from which Dwyer withdrew Saturday’s Grand Prix runner-up, Snowdon Faberge (71.52).

Holstein recorded a second double in the Ann Glynn-judged Novice qualifier on the ISH mare Kingston Forget Me Not (73.39%). The only other combination to break the 70% barrier in this nine-runner class (there were four absentees), was Cork’s Ana Marie Hughes with her seven-year-old bay gelding Ballycahane Billy (70.16) on whom she finished third in the EI90 national eventing championships last September.

It’s by chance that Holstein’s two winners are mares as she is just as comfortable riding stallions and geldings.

“I get on with every horse, not just mares, and train them all the same according to the correct basic principles of training,” said the three-time Olympian.

“My two mares are like chalk and cheese so I don’t know if there is a stereotypical mare! It’s great that HSI are sponsoring these series of shows; it’s great for Irish horses and great for dressage in Ireland.”

Also completing series doubles on Saturday were Rosemary Gaffney and her Hanoverian mare Chantal 2 (71.03%), an 11-year-old by Christ, at Advanced Medium level; Marguerite Kavanagh who again won the Advanced on her Dutch Warmblood mare Fidette (67.50), a 10-year-old chesnut by Westpoint; and Sarah Mellor who faced two rivals this time en route to victory in the Intermediaire II with Let’s Dance (66.47), a 13-year-old Oldenburg mare by Sir Donnerhall.