ANNE Marie Dunphy, Horse Sport Ireland’s High Performance manager for senior and youth dressage, appears to have a very smart horse on her hands in the Dutch Warmblood mare Pedigree OK.

Attending just her second show of the Dressage Ireland season, the black daughter of Formidable ran out an impressive winner of the Demlay Equestrian Novice championship, in which she held off 17 rivals, and of the non-championship class for five-year-olds in which she faced just two opponents. The only starter in the non-championship six-year-old class was the Dutch Warmblood gelding Olaf Van Lange Weeren (by Hennessy) who was partnered by his owner, Iris Walshe.

Honoured

Category 1 rider Maura Moore-McCune and Bryan Larkin’s Dutch-bred Welsh cross gelding Blokland’s Hoeve’s Amor, a 20-year-old chesnut son of Orchard Boginov who represented Ireland at five European pony dressage championships, saw off 14 rivals to win the Damastown Stud Equestrian Elementary title on their first start at this level as a combination.

“I’m really honoured to ride him,” 18-year-old Moore-McCune told Helen Bruce. “He’s brilliant, and a really good schoolmaster, so I have learned all the tricks off him.

“I hope to do more Elementary with him and possibly Medium level. I am also trying to get on the British Dressage Home Nations youth team again this year.”

Roisin Winters won the DSE Equestrian Medium championship with her Hanoverian gelding Rossini, an 11-year-old chesnut by Rossolini.

There were uncontested wins over the weekend for Niamh Winter with the 17-year-old British Sport Horse mare Ode To Shannon in the FEI pony championship, for Millie Cosgrave with the home-bred Let’s Dance in the FEI children on horses championship, for Claire Farrell with the ex-racehorse Renneti in the Preliminary/Novice/Elementary freestyle and for Barbara Delahoyde on Marlton Scout in the higher graded freestyle.

There were plenty of non-championship classes over the two days with the most notable win being those of Oscar O’Connor on the six-year-old Olderburger gelding Funkstar (81.33%) in Saturday’s 14-runner novice class.