THE committee which ran the Irish Pony Society Kildare/North Leinster Area show at Killossery Lodge Stud last Sunday deserves great credit in getting through all the advertised classes as, following heavy rain during the week and a deluge on Saturday morning, they were unable to use, as planned, two showing arenas on grass.

“We managed to run all showing classes continuously indoors and adapted the jumping rings to accommodate all the performance classes,” revealed Area secretary, Rena Rawluk. “We were delighted that members travelled from all around the country to Killossery, especially from the Northern Area. We held 14 championships and look forward to seeing how our supreme champion, Holthall Gladiator, gets on in the all-Ireland pony supreme championship at Killusty next month (Saturday, July 5th).”

The judges for the day were Mairead Ryan and Aoife O’Connor (working hunters), Cathy Cooper (mini workers and performance) and Desna and Brian Lewis (showing classes).

The supreme champion was Aine Geoghegan’s Holthall Gladiator who, earlier in the day, won his mini show hunter lead rein class plus the mini show hunter championship under C.J. Greene. Also in mini show hunter company, the British-bred pony was second in both the 123cm class and the first ridden class in the hands of the owner’s son Fionn Redmond who is in his first year off the lead.

That now nine-year-old jockey was on board Holthall Gladiator when the 2018 Islyn Bond gelding was second in the lead rein class at Dublin in 2022 and when the roan topped the final line-up in both 2023 and 2024.

Holthall Gladiator may appear somewhere else before then but his next main targets are the Kildare/North Leinster Area Show at Tattersalls Ireland (Sunday, July 27th), where he was supreme champion last year, the defence of his title at Dublin and, at the end of August, the BSPS summer championships show at Arena UK.

Special

“A big thanks to the pony’s connections for giving C.J. such a special opportunity,” said Greene’s mother Jamie whose elder son, Cian, was placed in a couple of classes. “It was C.J.’s first time sitting up on a pony that we have always loved and admired as he has been so beautifully produced. Charles (Greene, Jamie’s husband) was there in full support of the boys and the supreme was a great end to Father’s Day!” Fionn’s father Sean Redmond also spent Sunday at the show as did Aine’s father Pat Geoghegan.

The reserve supreme was the reserve from the starter stakes classes, Prince Caspian, who was ridden for Markethill’s Sarah O’Rourke by her daughter Lauren. This owner/rider combination also landed the mini championship with their Dublin first ridden winner from last year, Pineview Romeo.

Two Connemaras of note were the 17-year-old Monaghanstown Fionn gelding Fiona’s Fionn, who won the Heritage championship for Co Wicklow mother and son, Lucy and Tristan Kelly, and the Liam Durkan-owned, Dahlia Durkan-ridden Blakehill Bobby, a 13-year-old Cnocbán Cassanova gelding, who won the flat breed championship.