IRELAND’s Bernie Foley (List 1) and Britain’s Maria Eilberg (List 1) together judged the three DAFM young horse classes at last weekend’s Botanica Summer Festival, which was run by the Leinster Region of Dressage Ireland at CoilÓg.

With a low entry and then two withdrawals on Saturday, they weren’t overworked. Their winner of the three-runner FEI four-year-old competition on 68.6 was the Ellen Carroll-owned and ridden Pumpkins Fancy (Lancedor LS - Cloongowla Lady, by Ard Grandpa), a chesnut Irish Sport Horse gelding bred by John Kilkenny.

Gerald Bloomer saw off his sole rival when scoring 78 in the DI national five-year-old test on his Dutch Warmblood gelding Ready To Shine AVO (Las Vegas - Vinesse AVO, by Ronaldo). Ruth Hayes recorded an uncontested victory in the seven and eight-year-old class, where she scored 70 in the DI national seven-year-old test on Sue Chadwick’s Westphalian mare Foxy Lady R, a 2019 daughter of For Gold. There were no entries in the six-year-old class.

Those competing in the FEI underage classes at last weekend’s Dressage Ireland Leinster Region Botanica Summer Festival rode one test both days.

The highest combined score (250.75) was recorded by the only combination in the Children’s championship, Millie Cosgrave with Louise and Sophie Doheny’s 14-year-old Appaloosa gelding Peru’s Casablanca. Niamh Winter saw off one rival when winning the Pony championship on 239.75 with her father Guy’s 18-year-old British-bred mare Ode To Shannon.

Taking a break from the showing scene for the weekend, Evie Kennedy not only won the four-strong Junior championship on 222.75 with her mother Maeve’s Cordobes XXXVI, but also partnered the 23-year-old Spanish-bred gelding to land the Festival’s three-runner Advanced championship on 232.875.

The highest score over the four Trailblazers’ championships (which were staged on Saturday) was the 225.55 recorded by Erin Dowling, the only starter at Novice level, with her family’s six-year-old Bouncing Donard mare Superior Duchess. They also recorded an uncontested win in Sunday’s Trailblazers’ Freestyle.

Farrell is on form

Nine non-championship classes were staged over last weekend’s Dressage Ireland Leinster Region Botanica Summer Festival at CoilÓg.

Twenty-six tests were ridden over five classes on Saturday, when the highest score of 70.34% was achieved by Raphael Walsh on the Irish Sport Horse gelding MCK Stradivarius, a six-year-old son of Black Hero, in the four-runner Novice 27A judged by Jillie Rogers (List 3). Down from the Northern Region, Jane Allen-Collins and the home-bred Lougherne Atlanta, a 10-year-old ISH mare by Antaeus, topped the overall scores in the Elementary 51, judged by Joanne Jarden (List 1).

On Sunday, Lucinda Webb-Graham (List 4) awarded her highest score (71.43) in the Elementary 55 to Claire Farrell on the former racehorse Renneti, a 17-year-old French-bred gelding by Irish Wells. She had Siobhan Stapleton and her Irish Draught gelding The Peeler (by Woodland Boy) at the top of her overall leaderboard in both the Preliminary 6 (69.23) in the short arena and the Novice 21 (69.66).