TWO Irish Junior riders shared the lead after dressage in the CCI1*-Intro at last weekend’s Ballindenisk international horse trials. Maeve Deverell dropped out of contention with Annaharvey Dunowen but Ciara O’Connor ran out the narrow winner on Ashwood Rio.

En route to victory with her aunt Sharon’s home-bred Irish Sport Horse gelding, O’Connor picked up 0.8 of a cross-country time penalty for a total of 27, while Ireland-based US international rider Gillian Beale King completed on her first phase score with Lawrence Patterson’s six-year-old Zangersheide stallion Dorus Heldenlaan Z (27.6).

Three of the 19 starters were eliminated, one Junior rider suffering that fate twice in the show jumping phase, once for a fall.

This was a second success from three starts this year for Ashwood Rio, a six-year-old Dignified van’t Zorgvliet gelding who, out of the Ramiro B mare Pikeur, won the EI100 (J) on the second of two visits to Tyrella.

“We would have loved to get him to Millstreet but, due to the situation with eventing here at the moment, I couldn’t get the MERs in time,” said 17-year-old O’Connor who has Cooley Rebound and Ashwood Rio’s Iron Man van de Padenborre half-sister, Ashwood Iron Lady, lined up for the CCI2*-L at the Duggan family’s international.

“I’ll probably do the Junior/Young Rider Dublin qualifiers with Rio while also eventing him,” said Gorey fifth year student O’Connor who is coached in dressage by Amanda Goldsbury, when spending much of her free time at Cooley Farm, and Steve Smith (show jumping).

“I thought the cross-country track at Ballindenisk was really good and it was great that the ground was able to handle all the rain that fell which was needed.”