A PANEL of six judges was engaged to officiate at last Sunday’s Dressage Ireland Leinster Region show at Redhills Stud, where one judge and numerous riders made a quick re-appearance having been in action at Marlton the previous day.

Donie McNamara and Jane Whitaker, both List 1, assessed all tests from Medium level upwards. Not too surprisingly, they faced their biggest fields at Medium level, where McNamara’s overall leaderboard in the seven-strong DI65 was topped on 66.88% by Jessica Kuehnle and Margaret Kinsella’s 17-year-old Irish Sport Horse gelding Sammy Davis Junior (Imperial Hights - Cornasaus Connie, by Condios), who are competing in the CCI4*-S at the Millstreet international horse trials this weekend.

Whitaker only had five combinations to judge in the DI73, where she awarded her highest score to Oscar O’Connor riding Funkstar (67.17), the seven-year-old Oldenburg gelding by Foundation who he owns in partnership with his mother Susan. Whitaker had the higher number to assess at Advanced Medium level, where her winner of the four-runner DI95 was Amanda Sparrow with her 19-year-old Hanoverian mare Santiago (65.42).

There were three starters in the DI90, where McNamara’s winner was Yvette Truesdale with her 11-year-old Hanoverian gelding Warjag WD (68.38), who was making his DI debut. Truesdale and her son of Waldensee recorded an uncontested win before Whitaker in the day’s sole Advanced class, where they scored 64.71.

Slieve Bloom Stud’s Sophia Doheny recorded a Small Tour double with another DI newcomer, her mother Louise’s 19-year-old Danish Warmblood stallion Top Genes Zar Neptun (by Blue Hors Zack), scoring 68.68 in the Whitaker-judged Prix St Georges and 71.03 in the Intermediate I, where three combinations also appeared before McNamara.

There were no rivals for Aine Cafferkey and her 10-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding Leejoy (65.44) in the Intermediate II, but Marguerite Kavanagh faced one in the Grand Prix where she again partnered her Marlton winner, Danciano SR (62.50).

Also making a quick reappearance to record an uncontested FEI Pony riders’ double was Olivia Linnane, who partnered her mother Isobell’s Don Dimaro van het Gildeland to achieve 66.49 in the McNamara-judged Individual test and 65.43 in the Whitaker-judged Team test.

On board the Dutch Warmblood mare Mariposa, a nine-year-old daughter of Ferdeaux, Ellen Mooney recorded a double in the FEI Junior classes, scoring an uncontested 64.70 in the McNamara-judged Team test and 66.76 in the Whitaker-assessed Individual test where she faced one rival, the busy Evie Kennedy who was close up in second on her mother Maeve’s 23-year-old Spanish-bred gelding Cordobes XXXVI (66.62).

Marian Cassidy and Clare Fitzsimons, who are both on List 4, judged the Novice and Medium classes between them and, although the former had one more combination to assess, the pair agreed on their overall winner at Novice level, Jillian Southern.

That Category 1 rider scored 72.50 in the Cassidy-assessed six-runner DI24A and 68.28 in the Fitzsimons-judged DI39 with Ardmount Rio (Vriend - Ardmount Abbey, by Ard Allez Cat). The bay 18-year-old holds numerous entries at the upcoming AIRC Festival in Mullingar, where, representing Killegar, Southern will compete with the ISH mare in the dressage section while her breeder, Suzanne Kenny, will ride her in the showing division.

Sonya McCormack and her Oldenburg mare Sosha Jakama (by Taurus) followed up their uncontested win in the five-year-old class at Marlton on Saturday with outright victory here on 72.08 in the Elementary DI52, where 13 combinations appeared before Fitzsimons. Just six contested the Cassidy-judged DI53, where her overall leaderboard was topped on 70.83 by John Gavin with his eight-year-old home-bred ISH gelding Holywell Contender (Contendro I - Skreenmore Dancer, by Crosstown Dancer).

Lisa O’Brien (List 6) judged two of the three Preliminary classes, awarding her higher overall winning score (69.17) in the six-runner DI18 to Caroline Marwood on board Megan O’Gorman’s five-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding Roover Ter Kwincke (by Louis Ter Kwincke).

Eight combinations appeared before Jane Averill (List 6) in the DI16, where her overall leaderboard was topped by Astrid Martini-Facio riding her own 10-year-old ISH mare Ferro Blue Belle (S Creevagh Ferro - Creevagh Bridget, by Creevagh Into Touch).

There was a disappointing entry, and fewer starters, in the dedicated Junior section, where the highest score (70.60) was awarded by Averill in the DI16 to Tallula Hughes, who brought up a Preliminary double on her mother Tara’s 19-year-old skewbald gelding Lightning McQueen.

A REPORT on Sunday’s Dressage Ireland North Munster Region show at Clonshire, the second leg of their summer league, will be carried in next Saturday’s edition of The Irish Field.

There’s just one DI-affiliated show taking place this weekend with the Northern Region’s summer league continuing tomorrow at The Meadows. Midweek dressage returns to the calendar next Thursday at Skevanish, where the South Munster Region are holding the fifth leg of their O’Briens Saddlery league.