ANNE Marie Dunphy enjoyed stellar success at Dressage Ireland’s National Championships, held for the first time at Barnadown last weekend.

As well as the titles she earned on board Ramazotti’s Love and Her Highness Willow at medium and advanced medium, she became the 2016 National Champion when Urbanus achieved a big tour double.

“To come home with five championships from the three horses is of course a great feeling,” said the Kilkenny-based rider afterwards, “but the icing on the cake is the Grand Prix. Becoming Irish National Champion has been an ambition which has eluded me until now, though I’ve come close a few times and Urbanus was reserve champion last year, so I couldn’t be happier that we have finally achieved it.”

Speaking about the Ronaldo-sired black gelding she has produced up through the levels, Dunphy said: “When I got him as a young horse he was very big and weak, but had great presence. I always knew he would need time, and it’s been quite the journey to Grand Prix. The phrase ‘perseverance, secret of all triumphs’ springs to mind!”

Dunphy’s students also excelled themselves throughout the championships, with 23-year-old riders Rachel Dowley and Courtney Stuart completing a clean sweep of the small tour classes. Riding her 14-year-old international campaigner Fanfarron 8, Stuart took Friday’s Prix St Georges title by the narrowest of margins, to which she added the freestyle championship at this level on Sunday.

Dowley climbed from third in Friday’s class to the top of the leaderboard in the Intermediare I Championship on Saturday, scoring 67.039% to finish 2.5% ahead of her nearest challenger, British-based Alice Hurley and the PRE stallion Deseado CCV.

Speaking afterwards, Dowley was understandably “delighted” with Mickey Purcell’s nine-year-old son of Hochadel, Cadens.

“Finishing third by so narrow a margin in the Prix St Georges made me all the more determined to pull off a clean test in the Inter I, but winning this championship exceeded my expectations as it was only our third attempt at the level. The fact that ‘Babe’ is the first horse I have produced from a four-year-old to this success made the result all the sweeter.”

Small tour was not the only level at which Stuart made her presence felt throughout the weekend, as she also notched up Elementary Category 2 and under-25 titles with Betty Boo II, along with the four-year-old championship on HH Empire.

“I really couldn’t have asked for a better weekend with these lovely horses,” said the Gransha-based rider afterwards. “I lost my grandfather just last week and I wasn’t sure that I would make it to the championships at all, but with a lot of support from family and friends I made the journey down, and I’m thrilled with my results.”

hotfoot

Having hotfooted it north from Millstreet, where she was on hand to help the young rider eventing squad with their dressage, Heike Holstein managed to claim yet another national title.

Riding her talented homebred mare Sambucca, Holstein opened her account with second place in the Prix St Georges. She returned to the venue on Sunday to go one better, however, when she relegated Anne Marie Dunphy and Her Highness Willow into second place in the advanced championship. Holstein’s score of 69.653% left her an impressive 4% ahead of the rest of the field and the multiple Olympian said she was “super happy” with her seven-year-old mare.

Promising young horses were also on show at the lower levels throughout the weekend and while Jo May and OLS King Aragon had the edge over Tara Oliver’s beautiful Furst Romancier gelding Furst Romance in the five-year-old championship, these roles were reversed in the preliminary category two equivalent.

Another five-year-old, this time Carolyn Mellor’s VSH Gouverneur M, emerged at the top of the novice category two class. Ridden by Mellor’s stable jockey Nicki McKee, this horse went on to add Sunday’s elementary freestyle title to his tally.

In common with previous years, enormous entries in the category one preliminary and novice championships necessitated dividing these classes, with the top 10 from each section proceeding to ride-offs for the overall titles on Sunday morning.

convincing

At preliminary level, the Eastern Region’s Niamh Nolan scored a convincing win with 71.250% on board CLS Stay With Her Johnny, while Micheal Boyd managed at one-two with Ballyalt Comet and Maximum Jay at novice. Debbie Cherry won the elementary category one championship.

Blessed by good weather and a great atmosphere, riders were quick to praise both Maurice Cousins’ venue and the organising team. The latter consisted wholly of volunteers and Mary Cox spoke on behalf of all competitors when she thanked everybody who gave up their time to make the show a success.

Dressage Ireland also extended its thanks to the generous sponsors TopSpec, Showtime Equestrian, Beezies Stud, Woodlands Equestrian Centre, Hoofprints Innovations, Freedom Saddlery and Kavanaghshome.ie.