CONDITIONS were dull and wet last Sunday in Clifden, where the Midland and Western Region of Dressage Ireland held the sole affiliated show of the weekend.

While she was the only judge on duty in the Connemara Pony Sales arena, Derval Diamond (List 3) didn’t have too stressful a day. There were just 27 starters in total, a small entry being further depleted by withdrawals which were probably due to the weather.

Thirteen-year-old Cadhla Curran recorded three overall wins. She saw off two rivals when scoring 78.06% in the Elementary DI52 on her mother Carmel’s seven-year-old Dutch Riding Pony Cosmo Rubin (Cosmo Royale - Caprice, by Cocky Man). Just two combinations contested both FEI Pony classes, which Curran won on Carmel’s nine-year-old German Riding Pony gelding HS (Valdez HS - Seven Mountain Dusty, by Derbino).

In recording a double, Eirin O’Neill faced just one rival, that being in the Preliminary DI16, where Diamond awarded her a score of 70.40 for her test on the Connemara gelding Beola Boy (Anna Dooneen - Sunflower Playgirl, by Spiddal Playboy). O’Neill’s uncontested win came on the same eight-year-old bay in the Novice DI39, where she achieved a score of 74.83.

Diamond was faced with her largest field of five in the Preliminary DI4 in the short arena, where she awarded her highest score (72) to Talitha Diamond riding the home-bred five-year-old Connemara stallion Diamonds Shadow Fix (Silver Shadow - Coolfin Dexter Princess, by Idefix du Villon).

Following five withdrawals, there were just four starters in the Intro B won by Mollie Flaherty on the six-year-old grey mare Coumbrack Cora (65.59). The overall winner of the three-runner Novice DI23 was Nina Hartwell on the seven-year-old grey gelding Greyfort Lad (73.23).

There were two starters in both the Trailblazer Preliminary and the Elementary DI55 won, respectively, by Alannah Joyce riding the 17-year-old Connemara gelding Branchfield Dandy (65.40) and by Siobhan Cazabon with the 10-year-old Connemara gelding Cleggan Bobby (76.43). Patricia Frost recorded an uncontested win on 66.36 in the Medium DI67 with the 20-year-old ISH gelding Ballj Spirit.

There are four DI-affiliated shows scheduled for this weekend viz the Eastern Region at Marlton and the North Munster Region at Garranemore today plus the South Munster Region at Greybrook West and the Northern Region at The Meadows tomorrow.