THE first of this year’s Young Eventhorse Series qualifiers was held on Tuesday at the Stevenson family’s Tullylish where, two days after they had acted at Millstreet, that international horse trials’ honorary President Jean Mitchell and joint show secretary Dora Beacom were on duty as suitability/potential presentation judge and jump judge respectively.

Another to have made the journey up from Co Cork was Jane Tolley who had been one of the judges of the Burghley Young Event Horse classes at Millstreet. Here, she was one of the ridden display judges along with fellow British visitor Douglas Hibbert. The more locally-based James McEvoy filled the role of jump suitability and potential judge.

“The YES qualifiers continue to find future stars of the eventing world and Tuesday’s qualifier at Tullyish was no exception to this rule,” commented Tolley. “Each class produced versatile and talented winners and displayed how important this examination of the education of Ireland’s eminently respected Sport Horses has become.

“Judged on the potential of each candidate, the YES! standards continue to improve with riders becoming more aware of what the criteria requires. Natural talent and future scope of each horse is assessed with riders being rewarded for displaying sound basic training principles in order to produce a happy, confident, well-balanced and expressive individual. All classes were competitive and standards were strong but the winners were exceptional horses destined for successful futures.”

Hibbert concurred: “It was a privilege to be invited over from England to judge such a prestigious qualifier. There were many horses who showed the talent and quality to go on to the top levels in the sport of eventing.

“It was good to see established 5* and Olympic riders presenting their young stars for the future along with those who took full opportunity to bring their horses to such a superb venue as Tullyish with its fantastic facilities which are so essential for the education of these potential future champions.”

Quick double

The two Millstreet Burghley winners made a quick reappearance here but only Bridget Speirs’ home-bred Irish Sport Horse gelding, BT Just Special, recorded a repeat success when topping the scores (316.7 points) in Section A of Tuesday’s five-year-old class under Diarmuid Ryan. In winning, the I’m Special de Muze bay, who is out of a non-winning thoroughbred mare by Robin Des Pres, also bagged a qualifying ticket for the young event horse classes at the Dublin Horse Show.

So too did the Andrew Williams-owned, John Tilley-ridden Borris Cornet Coole (316.3) in second. This ISH gelding by Castlefield Cornet, who had finished fifth at Millstreet having been a winner earlier in the year during the Stepping Stones league, was, in common with BT Just Special, one of the top performers in young event horse classes here last year.

Third there on Belline Baron Barbados (312.5), Robbie Kearns landed Section B on the ISH gelding Belline Kasparov (315.6) for the pair’s owner, Richard Ames. This Ian Norris-bred Quality Time bay, who is out of a Kroongraaf mare, has done a small amount of affiliated show jumping and eventing. He finished fourth of 22 in an EI100 at Hillcrest last month.

RDS qualifying tickets were also secured by P.J. Hegarty’s home-bred ISH mare Fenyas Email (313.5), who finished second under Sarah Ennis, while Andrew Williams and John Tilley combined to take the third ticket which was on offer here, with the ISH gelding Mr Springmount Paddy (312.1) who had been withdrawn from Millstreet.