THE Longford Branch continued its domination of Irish Pony Club show jumping last Saturday at Coilog where its members filled three of the top four placings in the 1.20m Classic Final.

The trio – Aisling McGreal, Rebecca Yorke and Edel Whyte – were on the Longford squad which won the Open team championship at the IPC Festival in Mullingar before going on to reign supreme at The Pony Club championships at Cholmondeley Castle in Cheshire.

Sunday’s winner, for the second year running, was UCD Agricultural Science student McGreal and the Vivaldo van het Costersveld mare Kimono Sash.

The eight-year-old bay, who is owned by her breeder, IPC chairman Harold McGahern, is out of the Cruising mare Rincoola Bua whose 2007 foal, the Diamant de Semilly stallion Dunganstown Boy, jumps for the Army Equitation School.

The prize for winning the Classic, and for placing second, is a training bursary at McKee Barracks but, as she had won this previously, McGreal was not eligible to take up the offer again and instead received a training bursary worth €250, sponsored by the IPC shop.

The 19-year-old, who has been a member of the Longford Branch since she was seven, competed at the international shows at Mullingar and Millstreet this year and in the small event horse class at the Dublin Horse Show.

The Longford member heading to McKee in February is Rebecca Yorke who, on Sunday, finished second with her father Greg’s Dutch Warmblood mare E Corletta, on whom she too competed at the Mullingar International this season. The eight-year-old by Corland was bred in Co Armagh by Lucy Buchanan out of the Nimmerdor mare Furola.

During the summer, Yorke (17) was awarded a bursary for Showjumping Ireland elite training in Cork and was also selected to attend a camp at the Longines World Equestrian Academy with top German show jumpers Thomas Stiller and Ludgar Beerbaum.

While Whyte (16) did her best to record a Longford one-two-three with the home-bred Abel Star, but she could only finish fourth with the second McKee bursary going to the third-placed rider, Scarteen’s Patrick Gleeson. The 17-year-old rode the Lux Z mare For Lux Sake, a five-year-old who was bred in Co Limerick by John Hassett out of a Cavalier Royale mare.

There were only six competitors in the Classic which was disappointing but, as the IPC’s chairman of show jumping, Syl Ryan, pointed out, it’s difficult to get a suitable date for the qualifiers and the final itself.

“The calendar is packed over the summer months,” said Ryan. “Even our own qualifier in Area 3 took place during the time of Showjumping Ireland’s national pony championships.

“However, those who competed at the Finals on Sunday had a great day. It was lovely and warm, if a bit humid, and everything ran smoothly. Coilog’s Chris Byrne built the tracks and Pat Walsh from Clonmel judged the classes, assisted by Helen O’Neill,” Ryan added.

Representing the Kilkenny Branch, Ryan’s son Jack (14) won the 22-runner Classic Finder class over a 1.10m track with the Connemara gelding Tynagh Sam, a nine-year-old Grade A 148cms grey by Straboe Prince.

Here, the second prize went to another 14-year-old, Caragh Sweeney from the Laois Branch, who competed on another Connemara gelding, the 11-year-old Skyline Robin grey Kippure Steepleview Jack.

On board the 21-year-old grey mare Little Pearl, who started her jumping career under Linda Murphy back in 2001, Roseanne Ryan (12) narrowly failed to initiate a family and Branch double in the opening Classic 90cms class in which there were 26 starters. The winner here was the Kildares’ Niamh Flinter (13) riding her father Martin’s 14-year-old grey gelding, Fan The Flowers.

Twenty-nine combinations competed in the 1m Classic Starter where 12-year-old Heather Clarke, representing the Tynagh Branch, emerged victorious with the 2005 Welsh mare April Star, a chesnut by Rolston Riverdance. Aoife Murphy from Carlow gave the winner most to do against the clock when finishing second on the 15-year-old former Grade A mare Garryndruig Turbo (by Malmsey).