THERE was an excellent entry of 18 in the Doagh Equestrian event pony class at Wexford Equestrian on Tuesday and an amazing result in a dead-heat between two Debbie Flavin-ridden five-year-old Connemara geldings, Pine View Ice Cool and Toovahera, who both amassed 193 points.

And Debbie wasn’t the only member of her family in action during round four of the Stepping Stones to Success league as her 12-year-old daughter, Emily Flavin-Redmond who is a member of the Carlow Branch of the Irish Pony Club, finished fourth on Debbie’s seven-year-old Connemara gelding Ballyerk Echo (184.1). Sandra Phipps spoiled the family party when placing third with the six-year-old Connemara gelding Uggool Fionn (188.3).

“Emily has been on her Easter holidays, so did last week and this and, as she has done as well, I told her she can go to next Wednesday’s final,” explained Debbie who is also mother to 11-month-old Daisy. “We will be holding on to Ballyerk Echo (a grey son of Ballybeg JJ) for the present as Emily wants to step up to Junior eventing with the Pony Club and they get on really well.”

A sister of racehorse trainer John Flavin, Debbie and her partner Niall Redmond run DEN Stride Stables in Tullow where they take in thoroughbreds and sport horses for breaking and producing and also do a small bit of pre-training of racehorses. She told us a bit about Geraldine Power’s Ice And Fire d’Albran grey Pine View Ice Cool and Michael Keane’s Silver Shadow bay Toovahera.

“We broke the grey lad as an early four-year-old so I’ve known him a while but Avril Hobson (Michael Keane’s wife and breeder of Toovahera) only sent us the other fellow about three weeks before the Stepping Stones league started. I’m not too sure what he’ll do next, plans are a bit fluid at this stage, but he could do the Dublin Connemara performance qualifiers which are definitely the aim for the Power pony.”