CASTLE Irvine, Necarne hosted the Dressage Ireland Northern Region’s winter league finals, sponsored by Newbridge Financial Planning, on Saturday. Although the numbers competing were on the small side in many classes, there were some high scores recorded in what were changeable weather conditions.

The highest of these (73.83%) was awarded by Joanne Jarden (List 1) in the Junior Novice championship (BD5) to Chloe Cathcart on the 17-year-old Irish Sport Horse gelding Killoughey Clover Imp (Killoughey Clover - Killoughey Imp, by Master Imp), who currently isn’t registered with Dressage Ireland.

The highest score posted in that four-runner class by a registered animal was 67.17, which was achieved by the eight-year-old palomino gelding Liberty’s Benjamin, ridden by Annie Morrow for her mother Kathy. Scoring 68.57, this combination had earlier won the Junior Preliminary championship (BD5), in which three combinations appeared before Jarden.

Riding her 10-year-old Connemara gelding Ambition (Drumbad Fletcher Moss - Bobby’s Girl, by Bobby Joe), Alexandra Ryan recorded a Novice double in front of Lucy Adams (List 3A). She and the dun first topped the overall scores (66.5) in the three-runner warm-up class (DI24A) before claiming the title in the five-strong championship class (BD5), where they posted the highest score of 65.33.

The Preliminary championship class (BD5), judged by Bernie Webb (List 3A), attracted eight starters, all of whom had to qualify to compete. Topping the overall leaderboard on 73.57 was Grace Hurrell with Alana Lavery’s 10-year-old ISH mare Poppy Diamonds (Mermus R - Scattery Katania, by Kahtan).

Webb also judged a non-restricted class at this level for non-qualifiers, and here, regional chair Joan Adrain saw off two rivals when scoring 68.33 with Fendi Jewel, her five-year-old Oldenburg mare by Desperado. That pairing also topped the scores on 72.69 in the seven-strong Jarden-judged Preliminary warm-up class (DI8).

Webb also judged those forward in both the warm-up and championship classes at Elementary level. Her overall winner of the first of these (DI56a), in which there were five starters, was Amy Tubman who scored 71.45 on board Cindy Cunningham’s 12-year-old appaloosa gelding Comanche Arrow. Jane Allen-Collins saw off seven rivals when achieving a score of 66.88 in the championship class (BD5) with her 10-year-old home-bred ISH mare Lougherne Atlanta (Antaeus - Lougherne Gypsy, by Limmerick).

Adrain bagged another title when Jarden awarded her the highest score (66%) in the five-strong Medium championship for her test on the nine-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding Mathieu (Fabuleus - Charlotte, by Waldemar). Five combinations appeared before the same judge in the Advanced Medium championship (DI95), where Adrain and Mathieu had to settle for second (66.11) overall behind Joanne McSeveney and Richard Finlay’s 21-year-old Westphalian gelding Enrico (Ehrentusch - Burgfee, by Silvio I) who scored 66.94. There was a poor turn-out for the Trailblazer section, but the ever-reliable Tommy Wakfer saw off his sole rival in the Lucy Adams-judged Preliminary DI5A when scoring 63.93 on board his mother Sarah’s 13-year-old British Riding Pony Carmens Novello.