IRELAND’s Niamh Verkade, who competed in pony competitions for most of the season, didn’t take long to put her elders in their place as she won the non-restricted CCI1*-Intro at last week’s Ballindenisk international horse trials.

The ground jury for this 26-runner class comprised Germany’s Wiebke Henning (C) and Ireland’s Marie Hennessy (E) who had Verkade and Duniro at the top of their Friday leaderboard with the only sub-30 penalty score, 29.3. The addition of 0.8 of a penalty over the coloured poles brought their final tally up to 30.1.

One horse was withdrawn before Saturday’s show jumping phase which caused a lot of problems with five combinations being eliminated - one for a rider fall, one for refusals at two fences and four for picking up 20 or more jumping faults.

Another pairing who had amassed 12 jumping penalties withdrew before cross-country.

It was very much a matter of the fence stewards just ticking off runners during Sunday’s cross-country phase when just two starters had a problem in jumping. Verkade and the Irish Sport Horse gelding Duniro, a 14-year-old dun by the Connemara stallion Abbeyfield Comet, were one of 15 combinations to come home clear within the time.

Completing on their dressage scores to finish second and third were the Irish pair of Laoise O’Farrell on Suzanne Maguire’s ISH mare Miss Mojito (32.2), an eight-year-old daughter of the little-used ISH stallion Bunn Berry, and Lucy Toombs riding Alison Smith’s ISH gelding Bluestone Ice (32.5), a 17-year-old grey by Creevagh Grey Rebel.

It was only on the second weekend of August that Verkade took over the ride on Duniro who, up to the previous Sunday, had been campaigned by Sian Coleman.

The gelding, who was bred in Co Wexford by William Stephenson out of the Ramiro B mare Woodvill Girl, was first produced on the Eventing Ireland scene by his owner, Mary Horgan.