FIRST and second in the show hunter pony starter stakes at Dublin don’t go forward for the Southside Contract and Carpet Cleaners championship, so while others were preparing for a final go-around last Sunday afternoon, most of those who had entered Ring 1 at 8am were already on the way home.

Luckily for Sharon Walsh who bred the winner, Pineview Remeo, and took the train down from Dundalk to see him, the O’Rourke family from Co Armagh weren’t in a rush to depart with the Barrera Duke Of Windsor grey on whom Lauren O’Rourke added victory in the starter stakes to that in the first ridden class last year.

Lauren has just turned 11, which means she has another year in starter stakes with the seven-year-old gelding who is out of the Tangle Wood Fantasy mare Dryfe Sceptre Fantasy. Taylor Lee Doyle finished second on the British-bred Bunbury Fahrenheit gelding Telynau Darwin who is just a six-year-old. This was a very large class and, while disappointing for their riders, it wasn’t too surprising to see three of the 21 combinations forward having to leave the ring early.

Lauren was closely watched in the class by her parents Sarah and Aaron, her party-loving brother Brian (13), her sister Rachel (8) and her uncle Cormac O’Rourke who, on Saturday, coached her in showing her pony in-hand. We don’t know if the full entourage is travelling but Lauren and Pineview Remeo are heading to the British Show Pony Society summer championship show in Grantham which starts on Tuesday.