THE first leg of the AIRC North East Region’s show jumping league, which is being sponsored this year by GoTu Trailers, was hosted last Sunday at Emerald Equestrian by Drynam Riding Club, whose Megan Fowler won the day’s best-supported Graded class, the RC70.

She did so on her 14-year-old Traditional Irish Sport Horse gelding Please The Court (Waveney - Rebel Clonard Diamond, by Rich Rebel), who she purchased in 2021 when he had some hunting experience to his credit. The bay was bred in Co Offaly by Patrick Delaney.

Fowler has done a lot of showing with Please The Court, both at agricultural shows and under Riding Club rules. The combination won the introduction to showing class at the AIRC Riding Club Festival in Mullingar in 2022, when they went on to stand reserve in the Frank Mangan championship, and were second the following year in their middleweight hunter class.

Fowler, who started show jumping Please The Court on a more regular basis about a year ago and plans to do more jumping with him this season, keeps her winner at the Drynam Stables livery yard of club secretary Laura Snow. She also owns the Irish Draught filly Gleann Rua Sapphire, a Gortfree Hero grey who won her two-year-old class at the IDHBA Dublin Branch show last June.

The North East Region was represented by two other winners. These were Castle Hill’s Lynne Broderick Kiernan, who landed the Graded RC80 on her eight-year-old Connemara gelding Cnocbán Blaze (Caherlistrane Bay - Cnocbán Bridín, by Frederiksminde Hazy Match) and Mullaghmore’s Katie Creegan, who won the day’s sole RC110 class on board her 16-year-old mare Holiday Izzy (Annaghmore Ginger - Artic Angel).

There was great support for this show from members of clubs in the West Leinster Region, and their trip to Emerald was rewarded by seven wins over the Shane Brooks-built tracks.

James Monks got Killcarrick off the mark in the opening Newcomers’ class, where he claimed the honours on Trigger. His clubmate Carolann Dowling won the Open RC80 on her unraced nine-year-old US-bred thoroughbred mare Bonita Bay (Bernardini - Kelli Cat, by Storm Cat) and in the Graded RC100, where Killcarrick members filled the top three placings, the winner was William Coughlin with his 17-year-old ISH gelding Craven Lodge (Ricardo Z - Garrendruig Sally).

Rathfarnham’s Rachel Gaffey won both the Graded and Open classes at RC70 level with her 11-year-old ISH mare Meadow Mo Chroi Z Diamond (Ricardo Z - Hayley Bop, by Golden Trump), while Greenhills’ Jack Martin won the Open RC90 and RC100 classes on his 10-year-old ISH mare Concordes Cruise Queen (Royal Concorde - Hugginstown Queen, by Cruising Ambassador), who he competes as an amateur with Show Jumping Ireland.

The second leg of the league is being hosted by the Cheval club at its Jordanstown showgrounds tomorrow, the third is scheduled for Sunday, March 15th at Mullaghmore Equestrian, where it will be run by the resident club, with Boyneside staging the final seven days later, on Sunday, March 22nd, at the National Horse Sport Arena.