COUNTY Wexford-born Jeremy Spring took time out from his busy schedule to judge dressage at round three of the Baileys Horse Feeds-sponsored Flexi-Eventing league in The Meadows last Saturday.

Based in Worth in the south of England, Jeremy spends a lot of time in Norway and continental Europe coaching dressage and jumping. He hasn’t judged in Ireland for many years but was persuaded to do so last weekend by his sister Judy Maxwell, Baileys’ supremo in Ireland.

Jeremy’s scribe for the day in Arena 1, where he judged the BE Novice 112 and BE Intermediate 117 tests, was Fiona McCurdy, who is better known as a show jumping judge.

Judy was delighted to get Jeremy over to the Flexi-Eventing league and hopes he will return before too long. Disappointingly, he had to head back to England on Saturday evening so couldn’t accompany his sister the next morning as she headed down to Dublin Airport to pick up her son, David, who was riding at the Ward Union point-to-point in Oldtown.

Again, there wasn’t much time for chat as David rode his own David Christie-trained Darwins Fox in the open race at 1.30pm (finishing third) after which he had to be immediately transported to the Airport for a 3.30pm flight back to London.

Incidentally, the race was won by the Jamie Codd-partnered, Jim Dreaper-trained Grand Jesture, who event rider Nicola Ennis had out hunting the previous day with the Fingal Harriers. The nine-year-old Gold Well gelding has now qualified for the Foxhunters’ Chase at the Cheltenham Festival.