IRELAND’s Sarah Ennis had five rides at last week’s 50th anniversary Ballindenisk international horse trials. While placed in three higher graded classes, she was extremely pleased with her win on Ordonnay in the Michael Leonard Championship (CCI1*-Intro) for five and six-year-olds, one of the most prestigious competitions for young event horses in this country.

Batterstown-based Ennis led throughout the 25–runner class, although adding a small number of time penalties in both jumping phases to the 25.7 she was awarded for her performance in the dressage arena by the ground jury of Australia’s Emma Flegman (C) and Britain’s Les Smith (E). She finished with the only sub-30 score of 27.7.

Britain’s Alexander Bragg completed on his first-phase mark for second with Sarah Hughes’s Irish Sport Horse mare Shannondale Meela (30), a six-year-old daughter of Shannondale Sarco St Ghyvan. Co Kilkenny-based British international Nicky Roncoroni’s third-placed tally on her mother Janey’s Carrigshawn Ebony (30.8), a five-year-old brown ISH gelding by HHS Cornet, included 0.8 of a time penalty over the coloured poles.

There were only five clear rounds within the time during Saturday’s show jumping phase, when two combinations were eliminated having amassed over 20 faults. Most of the 23 starters over the cross-country course on Sunday beat the clock while just two had problems in jumping, one coming early at fence 3b while the other was late on at fence 15b.

Victory

The KWPN-registered Ordonnay, who is by Jardonnay VDL out of Rowerna (by Iroko), first came to the attention of this writer last October when Ennis partnered him to victory in the five-year-old class at the second leg of the 2024 DAFM eventing development series at the Milchem Equestrian Centre. However, I should have known about him sooner as he was imported into this country as a three-year-old by not-too-distant show jumping neighbours of mine, Greg and Ausra Clarke of Quagga Sport Horses. He is a half-brother to the 1.50m jumper Jirocco (by Zirocco Blue VDL).

Ennis first spotted Ordonnay in March last year at Emerald but, she was unable to buy him then as he was heading out to the Sunshine Tour where, riding for her native Lithuania, Ausra Clarke competed the gelding in some of the CCIYH1* classes for five-year-olds. He came into Ennis’s ownership a couple of months later and she brought him on slowly for the rest of the year.

This season, Ordonnay began competing under Eventing Ireland rules, finishing third of 24 on his only EI90 start at Tyrella 4 in mid-April. He has since competed eight times at EI100 level, winning on five occasions. “He is a very exciting prospect for the future and, for a foreigner, he can really gallop,” commented Ennis, who is next heading to Boekelo. “He is for sale, as is everything else in the yard - you can’t keep them all - but, if he wasn’t sold, I’d be more than happy to produce him further.

“It was a great event. The sun was splitting the stones, the atmosphere was fantastic and, while the courses were quite technical, it’s what you’d expect at this time of the year.”