FOLLOWING four very competitive qualifiers, those who secured tickets for the five working hunter pony classes at the Gallagher Dublin Horse Show will battle it out for championship honours next Saturday before British judges Aly Boswell and Fiona Cabrol who will be on duty at 8am.

Second here last August, Rosita Dunne will be doing her best to occupy the top spot in the starter stakes with the 11-year-old Welsh gelding Fontmell Jack Sparrow. Among other ponies to have qualified is Louise Lyons’s Dartans Seoda Ban who will be ridden here by the owner’s daughter Robin Lyons Teehan whose sister Nancy will be on board the six-year-old palomino gelding in the 133cms class.

Among the many well-known combinations who have qualified for the 143cms class is Evie Kennedy with her mother Maeve’s Connemara gelding Little Dromin Phoenix, a 17-year-old Lettermuckoo Lad grey on whom she won this class last August and was champion in 2024. Here, the Lyons Teehan family will be represented by the 10-year-old skewbald gelding Dartans Brandonwell Jack.

Lilymai Walsh had to settle for second place in the 153cms class last August on Chapel Dark Hill Spark so will be hoping to go one better next Saturday with Des Kent’s eight-year-old Krafty Clover gelding. Among the bay’s well-known rivals will be the Connemara gelding Ella’s Melody, a 19-year-old I Love You Melody gelding who Hannah Mackey rides for her grandgfather Joe Widger.

Charlotte Harding won the working hunter pony championship last year with Penny Murphy’s Kontiki who she has again qualified for the 158cms class (and the older performance Irish Draught class on the opening day of the show). Runners-up last August, Lily Nadir and her father Birol’s 15-year-old Mermus R mare Country Strong will be out to spoil the Harding party.

One combination not here is the 2025 third-placed pairing of Carla Williamson and her mother Janet’s eight-year-old Colandro gelding Powers who, on their dressage score, finish seventh of 56 in the CCI2*-L at Millstreet last weekend, boosting their prospects of being on the Irish team at the European Junior eventing championsips in Sweden towards the end of the month.