THE Northern Region of Dressage Ireland held a show last Sunday at The Meadows Equestrian Centre where some eye-catching doubles were recorded.

At Preliminary level, Karen McKee struck twice with her six-year-old Irish Sport Horse gelding Furstlove KPCM (Furstenball - Lovely Lady VDM, by Govenor) when topping the scores of Coreen Abernethy (List 4) in the 11-runner DI18 (70.21%) and of Claire Ewing (List 5) in the BD6 (75) where there were a dozen starters.

In front of Abernethy in the eight-runner DI21, where she scored 68.28, and before Vida Tansey (List 1) in the three-strong BD6, where she scored 68.23, Martina McKinley topped the overall leaderboards at Novice level with her unraced thoroughbred gelding Will Scarlet, an 11-year-old chesnut by Dubai Destination.

It was good to see nine starters in the Elementary DI51, where Abernethy’s highest score of 70% was awarded to Jane Allen-Collins riding her 10-year-old home-bred ISH mare Lougherne Atlanta (Antaeus - Lougherne Gypsy, by Limmerick). There were only three forward (from five entries) for the second Elementary class, the BD6 judged by Tansey, where Lisa Ferguson claimed the honours with her 17-year-old skewbald gelding Larkin (64.24).

Eight days after winning his qualifier at The Meadows for the older Irish Draught performance championship at Balmoral Show (May 13th to 16th) under Charlotte Harding, the 12-year-old Kontiki (Killinick Bouncer - Glen Cross, by Holycross) returned to the McCusker family’s Lurgan venue on Saturday. Then, in the hands of his owner Penny Murphy, the grey comfortably saw off one rival to win the Medium BD6 (64.58) and DI65 (66.56), which were both judged by Tansey.