MAURA Moore-McCune recorded the highest overall Freestyle score at last weekend’s Premier Performance Dressage Ireland youth national championships in CoilÓg.
Riding her Queen-inspired medley in the Junior Preliminary class on board her mother Joey’s 19-year-old chesnut gelding Crofs Clover, the Meath Pony Club member achieved a score of 81.67% while her sole rival, Sophie Orr, was on 74.72 with Aughnasilla Pat.
Eleven Freestyle classes were advertised but only five were contested, all of which were judged by the very busy show secretary/organiser Jane Whitaker (List 1).
There were two starters also in the Junior Novice class where again Orr had to settle for second, this time on Tirnaskea Starstruck (75.83), as Clodagh O’Toole claimed the honours with her sister Sadhbh’s 10-year-old piebald mare Keadies Kaleigh (76.94).
Two combinations also appeared before Whitaker in the open Trailblazers’ Freestyle where she awarded her higher score, 70.56, to Erin Dowling on Superior Duchess, a five-year-old bay mare by Bouncing Donard out of Caroline of Donard, by Skipping Grange.
There were uncontested wins for Nicole Peoples with Karen McKeown’s 14-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding VSH Gangster (71.54) in the Junior Elementary Freestyle and for Cadhla Curran on her mother Carmel’s eight-year-old German-bred HS (75.63) in the FEI Pony Riders Freestyle.
It was good to see the Trailblazers ride two tests over two days, allowing these enthusiastic young competitors experience the pressure and thrill of a true championship format. Fleming and Baker certainly proved up to the task as did others. They can have a break this weekend as their senior counterparts contest the Dressage Ireland national championships in Ballindenisk.
Trailblazers
There were good-sized entries in the majority of the Trailblazers’ classes at last weekend’s Premier Performance Dressage Ireland youth national championships in CoilÓg where two young riders put up impressive performances.
In the Mini championship, 12 combinations appeared before Dane Rawlins and Michael Moore on Saturday with just one less doing so on Sunday before Vida Tansey and Alison Thorne.
When all the scores were combined, Stephanie Fleming finished champion and reserve on her mother Orla Whelton’s 16-year-old 122cm part-bred Welsh mare Whiteleaze Secret Temptation (121.875) and 23-year-old 123cm Welsh Section C mare Rookery Fizz (120.5).
Ben Baker, a member of the Meath Branch of the Irish Pony Club, recorded a championship double on another 23-year-old British-bred pony, his mother Julianne’s Small Print. And in some style too as Baker and Bisto topped the scores of both judges at Over 12s Preliminary level on Saturday and Sunday for a combined score of 185.75 and of both judges on both days in the Over 12s Novice championship for a total of 204.375.
There were just five starters on both days in the Under 12s’ Preliminary championship. On Saturday, Clara Nyhan claimed the honours on Molly Dot Com while on Sunday, Charlotte Collins topped the leaderboard with Coose Sammy. However, when all the maths were done, the title was won, on a combined score of 179.5, by Ellie Hearne who had finished second on both days with her mother Jayne’s Violetbanks Tiger Lily, an 11-year-old 128cm mare by Fofsway Noble Lord.