THE Glynn family hosted the first of two spring legs of the DAFM eventing development series last Sunday at Killossery Lodge Stud, where the flat phase was judged by June Loughran.
Debbie Flavin, whose Sean Blue was crowned leading four-year-old as the Eventing Ireland/Plustival spring combined training series concluded at CoilÓg on Saturday, was on the mark with another of that age group here in ‘Ruby’, who completed on her winning dressage score (24 penalties) in the nine-runner four-year-old class.
Bred in Co Monaghan by Andrew O’Connell, the bay Irish Sport Horse mare is by Lagans OBOS Quality out of Drumacoon Freda, by S Creevagh Ferro. “We got her before Christmas and soon had her broken and riding away,” said Flavin. “She is a simple, straightforward mare but, for all that, this was a most unexpected win. The plan is to do some of the RDS young event horse qualifiers with her.”
Having suffered with a back issue for much of the 2025 eventing season, it was good to see Nicola Ennis in such fine form ahead of the upcoming campaign. She competed three horses on Sunday, finishing second and sixth in this four-year-old class with ‘Rodney’ (aka The Barna Boy) and Candy Pop and fourth in the six and seven-year-old class on HVL Air Springs.
“I got the ride on Rodney through Zoe Duggan whose aunt, Clare Hynes, bred him,” revealed Ennis of the traditionally-bred son of Elusive Emir. “Sadly, he is the only foal out of his dam (Carraigh Samraigh, by Cruise On), who died a couple of days after he was born. She was a very good jumper, who competed up to 1.30m level.
“This was his first outing,” continued the rider. “I’ll do the Stepping Stones with him and we’ll see how he comes out of that before deciding on the Dublin qualifiers. You never know how these youngsters take to things, but he’s a pretty chilled out, relaxed type of horse.”
Ennis had been lying third after dressage with Candy Pop (27), but 12 jumping penalties pushed the combination down the order.
Five-year-olds
Competing out of Fernhill Sport Horses’ Kilkenny base, Luca Bortolamei rode six horses on Sunday including two five-year-olds for Carol Gee, who finished first and second on their dressage scores in their 15-runner class.
The honours went to the ISH gelding Fernhill Junior (24), who qualified for, and competed in, the four-year-old young event horse classes at Dublin and Burghley last year when he also did a small amount of registered show jumping. Bred in Co Kildare by Suzanne McCarville, the bay son of Je t’Aime Flamenco is out of the Ricardo Z mare Catcher Babushka.
The Zangersheide gelding Lionheart van’t Breezerhof Z, who finished second on 25 penalties is by Levisto out of a My Lord Carthago mare. He was purchased late last year and has done some jumping at Cavan. He will be produced quietly in both codes.
The locally-based Jo Andrews also completed on her 25-penalty dressage score, but lost out on collectives and had to settle for third with her own ISH mare Annie Be Sure who is by Creevagh For Sure out of a Beach Ball mare. The chesnut is heading for one of the selection days (April 1st and 2nd) for the inaugural Goresbridge Copper Beach Sale of four and five-year-old eventers and show jumpers on May 25th.
While the top seven on the final leaderboard all completed on their dressage scores, the jumping phase had a major influence here, with the flat-phase winners on 22 penalties, Joseph Murphy and Class Tower, dropping right out of contention with a similar number of jumping penalties. The Richard Hunter-partnered Kan Do Masterclass finished on a total of 38, which included 14 jumping penalties.
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Sarah Ennis with six and seven-year-old winner Ordonnay at the DAFM eventing development series held in Killossery Lodge \ Sagittarian Media
Six and seven-year-olds
Fifth there with Stellor Vivant Gold (28), Sarah Ennis filled the top two spots in the six and seven-year-old class with her own Dutch Warmblood gelding Ordonnay and the ISH mare Lady Sky M, who completed on their first phase scores of 30 and 31 penalties respectively.
Ordonnay, a seven-year-old by Jardonnay out of an Iroko mare, had a very successful first season on the event circuit proper last year. He started off with a third place finish (out of 24) in an EI90 at Tyrella in mid-April, won five well-filled EI100 classes from eight starts at that level (the rider left out a fence on one occasion), before ending the campaign with a win in the prestigious Michael Leonard championship for five and six-year-olds (CCI1*-Intro) at Ballindenisk in September.
Owned by Andy Cox and her breeder Susanne Macken, the ISH mare Lady Sky M was first produced by Emma Jackson, under whom she amassed 20 Show Jumping Ireland points in 2024. The Cinsey bay, who is out of the Je t’Aime Flamenco mare Emily M, impressed in young event horse classes last season.
Ian Cassells finished third with Bridget Speirs’s home-bred BT Just Special (32), on whom he has taken over the ride from Diarmuid Ryan who had successfully produced the I’m Special de Muze gelding in young event horse classes over the past two years. Nicola Ennis was fourth on the dressage winner HVL Air Springs, who lowered one of the knockable cross-country fences for a total of 33.