MOST of the riders who competed in Friday morning’s finals of the ‘Balmoral Star of the Future’ performance horse championships at last week’s Balmoral Show are eventers and most of them would very much like to see the competition, and its qualifiers, revert to being a young event horse class.

Jane Darragh’s Horsefinder champion was the six and seven-year-old class winner, Ashwood Rio, who was ridden as usual by Co Wicklow’s Ciara O’Connor for her aunt Sharon who bred the seven-year-old Dignified vant Zoegvliet gelding out her Ramiro B mare Pikeur. The bay Irish Sport Horse gelding finished second in this class last year and afterwards won the Junior/Young Rider event horse class at the Dublin Horse Show.

While O’Connor is working full time with horses, Erin Mathieson, who finished second in the class, is studying dentistry and playing top class hockey. Her mount, who also claimed the reserve spot in the overall championship, was her mother Hilary’s DG Dawn Chorus (Je T’Aime Flamenco – Slaney Pointillst, by Pointilliste), a seven-year-old ISH mare who was bred by Gabriel Mullins. This combination are competing in the CCIYH2*-S for six and seven-year-olds at Millstreet this weekend.

Veterinary surgeon Rosie Alcorn won the five-year-old class on her father-in-law Larry Costello’s home-bred ISH mare Goodwins Ceann Amhain (Rock N Roll Ter Putte – Goodwins Babe, by Master Imp) who has done a small amount of affiliated jumping.

You can’t discount John Bannon in these competitions and he took second in the five-year-old class with his ISH gelding Little Luck (Avos Jordan Z – Sillan Roller, by Diamond Roller).

There seems very little interest among the show jumping community to contest the qualifiers and thus the final but, as can be seen from the numbers who annually compete in the Stepping Stones To Success League and the Young Eventhorse Series, the eventers like a clear qualifier process and the chance to compete for decent money at a major show.