TARA Hayes recorded a treble before Michael Moore (List 1) at the Dressage Ireland Leinster Region show held at the National Horse Sport Arena last Sunday.
On 67.35%, The Curragh-based Category 3 rider comfortably saw off her sole rival in FEI Prix St George where she rode her mother Fiona’s Irish Sport Horse mare Sandora BS (Spielberg - Silver Grouse, by Zagreb).
In the three-runner FEI Intermediate I, Hayes achieved a score of 69.56 on that 10-year-old home-bred bay, but the winning 71.47 for her test with Anita Kelly’s 13-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding Imperioso WW. She and that 13-year-old son of Charmeur then recorded an uncontested victory on 68.68 in the FEI Intermediate II on her first start at this level.
There were three starters in the FEI Grand Prix class, where Marguerite Kavanagh recorded her first win at this level when Moore awarded her a score of 64.24 for her test on the 18-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding Danciano SR, a bay son of Lanciano.
Riding her tall, 11-year-old KWPN-registered gelding Khalfani AS, Andrea O’Brien completed a double in the Moore-judged Advanced Medium classes, she and the chesnut son of Sezuan recording an uncontested win in the DI90 (66.18) before beating two rivals in the DI95 (66.11).
Moore’s overall winner on 66.29 of the four-runner Advanced DI100 was Jennifer Egan with her Sorrell Klatzko-bred 10-year-old Irish Sport Horse mare Don Juans Doll (Don Juan de Hus - Desert Doll, by Desert Moon).
Moore also judged the two-runner Medium 73 where Hannah Lynam, winner of the Anne Marie Dunphy bursary offered by the South East Region during the summer, claimed the honours on her mother Susanne’s six-year-old Hanoverian mare Dark Diamond (66.83).
Also coming under Moore’s scrutiny were the FEI youth classes, where he judged just three combinations in total.
Riding the 10-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding Don Dimaro van het Gildeland, Olivia Linnane recorded an uncontested victory in the Individual test (66.89) before, on 68%, she narrowly held off Niamh Winter on Ode To Shannon (67.57) in the Team test. Cael Shanahan, the sole starter in the Junior Team Test, scored 68.18 on the eight-year-old Anglo European Studbook-registered Santana.
Kevin Acres and Valencia LS, pictured at Marlton, won an Elementary class at the National Horse Sport Arena \ Louise O'Brien Photography
Novice classes
List 4 judges Lindsay Ilona Brady and Clare Fitzsimons judged the two Novice classes, where their respective overall leaderboards were headed on 68.50 (in the 24A) and 70 (in the 39) by Rebecca Mills with San Tiaga, her 12-year-old AES mare by San Liberty.
The same two judges assessed those forward in the Elementary classes. Only two combinations appeared before Fitzsimons, who awarded her higher score (67.86) in the DI55 to Lucy McCarthy riding her father Con’s seven-year-old home-bred ISH mare Greenogue Malley (Cristo - Quita, by Dow Jones Courcel).
Brady was faced by the same number of starters in the DI53, where her winner on 71.79 was Kevin Acres with the tall, black German Warmblood gelding Valencia LS. The six-year-old is owned by Sadhbh O’Connor, who plans on taking over the ride herself now that the showing season is over and to progress up the levels with the son of Vivaldi.
At Preliminary level, Acres topped Fitzsimons’s overall leaderboard on 73.40 in the DI16 with Con McCarthy’s Dutch Warmblood gelding Stardancer VD, a Hermès bay on whom he was the sole starter in the Moore-judged four-year-old class where they were awarded a score of 76.
Brady judged the other two non-restricted Preliminary classes.
Her winner on 63.65 in the DI6 in the short arena was Kayleigh Nestor with the currently DI-unregistered five-year-old thoroughbred gelding Unleash The Jet (Jet Away - Daisy’s Gift, by Presenting), who pulled up on his two point-to-point starts in 2025. In the DI8, from which three of the seven entries withdrew, Louise Daly was awarded 67.31 for her test on the nine-year-old ISH gelding Clonross Rebel Heart (Clonross Basilio - Clonross La Islan Bonita, by Heron Island).
The only combination to appear before Brady in the Intro B was Emma Kennedy with another Clonross Basilio gelding, the seven-year-old Clonross Trailblazer (60.88).
In the dedicated Junior division, no entries were received for the two Elementary classes on the schedule, while there were no starters in the two Novice classes. In the Brady-judged two-runner Preliminary classes, Anna O’Connor won the DI18 on board the five-year-old Dutch Warmblood mare Raya (69.23) while, in the DI16, Yasmin Hughes claimed the honours on 69.20 with the eight-year-old Connemara gelding Loughmore Sambo (Brock Lodge Buster - Wyncroft Hero, by Laerkens Cascade Dawn).
The Preliminary 5A, which attracted the largest field, four, among the Brady-judged Trailblazer section, was won by Eabha-Lilly Clayton riding the 18-year-old skewbald mare Haybells Cinderella (69.46).
With so much work put into these shows by the regional committee, it was good to see Petra Larkin (chairperson) riding Malbec in the Advanced A100, where Helen Dunne made her debut at this level on Felino. Roisin Winters debuted her four-year-old home-bred ISH mare The Morrigan in the Preliminary 6.