TO help fund the eventing team’s challenge at Tryon, senior high-performance squad members took part in a very successful three-night demo tour in February – at Maryville Stables (Cork), Spruce Lodge Equestrian and Training Facility (Wicklow) and Portmore Equestrian (Antrim).

The riders were joined in their fund-raising efforts by senior high-performance director Sally Corscadden, dressage coach Ian Woodhead and show jumping coach Ian Fearon. Camilla Speirs’s great Portersize Just A Jiff made a retirement appearance at Spruce Lodge so his army of fans could see him one last time.

The fund-raising didn’t end there as, thanks to the energy and drive of Declan Cullen, and the co-operation of many others, some of the high-performance squad took part in the Event Riders Challenge Race which was run under lights at Dundalk Stadium on the evening of Wednesday, March 28th. The Irish Horse World played its part in publicising the race by following the preparations of the participants in the weeks leading up to the ‘Off’.

On what turned out to be an enjoyable, social evening, with dinner in the restaurant overlooking the track for supporters, Toni Quail made all to win on the Kevin O’Donnell-trained Bobeska. Sarah Ennis, who had competed in the Stepping Stones to Success League down in Wexford Equestrian earlier in the day, finished second with the Gordon Elliott-trained favourite, The Game Changer while Kerosin kept on late into third under Clare Lambert.

ALLEN IN CHARITY RACE

Maintaining the racing theme, Germany-based show jumper Bertram Allen gave the international competition scene a miss for a rare few days in April as he took part in the 29th Running of the Punchestown Charity Race which raises funds for kidney research.

Riding the Gordon Elliott-trained 6/4 favourite Flaxen Flare, Allen finish seventh in a large field of 25 and, importantly raised around €37,000 for the cause. In a ‘thank you’ letter carried in the Irish Horse World, Allen also encouraged readers to carry a donor card.

Constantly referred to in the international pages throughout the year, Wexford native Allen enjoyed the distinction, along with Noel Delahunty’s stallion Hector van d’Abdijhoeve, of appearing on a stamp celebrating the Royal Dublin Society.

The Society’s Dublin Horse Show in August was yet again a resounding success and this year’s winners of the Aga Khan trophy, the Eddie Macken-managed Mexico, added extra colour and vibrancy to the five-day extravaganza.

As usual, the Show received huge coverage in the Irish Horse World, before and after the event, and in the paper’s pre-show magazine.