SOUTHERN riders dominated the higher-graded classes last Saturday at Loughanmore where Co Wexford’s Patrick Whelan landed the seven-strong EI115 (Open) on his Vanda Stewart-awarded dressage score with the Dutch Warmblood gelding Ikoon Lan DHI (30.9 penalties).

Owned by Cathal Daniels and having his first start since Badminton where he finished 36th (27.2 cross-country time penalties plus 16 show jumping penalties), the 12-year-old Emilion chesnut may next run in the 4*-S at Lisgarvan before heading further afield to Lignières and then on to Pau.

It was a frustrating day for Co Down’s Joseph Murphy who finished on his first-phase score on all three of his rides, placing second here with DStud Flirtation (32.7). Co Meath Junior rider Carla Williamson led after dressage on Karolita O (29) but dropped to the bottom of the leaderboard with the addition of eight cross-country time penalties and a fence down show jumping.

In two arenas, the Aaron McCusker-designed show jumping tracks had their influence on the results all day but both jumping phases did so in the EI115 where five of the 18 starters failed to complete the cross-country phase while, of those that did so, six had a fence down show jumping.

Also from Co Wexford, Patrick Byrne benefited from the errors of others to win with Richard Ames’s seven-year-old ISH gelding Belline Castle ONR Candy whose total of 36.1 included 0.4 of a show jumping time penalty. While he was two seconds over the time on the final leg, Patrick Whelan would have been annoyed with the rare two time penalties he accrued across the country to finish fourth on Lakelands Woody (40.5) who was having his second start at this level.

Richard Ames recorded a double when Robbie Kearns, stable jockey at the owner’s Belline Estate in Piltown, Co Kilkenny, completed on his winning dressage score (29.8) in the EI110 (Open) on Belline Thistle Bethelasttime. None of the nine starters had a problem in jumping across the country while only three failed to beat the clock.

A seven-year-old mare by Grafenstolz, Belline Thistle Bethelasttime finished sixth when last out in the CCI3*-S at Aston Le Walls. Riding the six-year-old Sligo Candy Boy mare Belline Castle Ziggy, Kearns finished second to the elsewhere-mentioned Amanda Goldsbury in the EI100.

As he was the only starter, Co Wicklow’s Phonsie Wardell had little difficulty in maintaining the southern winning streak in the EI110 (P) on his mother Sarah’s Connemara gelding Kinamara Bright Star, a seven-year-old dun by Fear Beag Bui.

Based for some years now in Co Louth, Colin Halliday landed the 22-runner EI90 on his winning dressage score (28.8) with Apple Jacques who had finished second at Tullymurry 1 and fifth at The Clare (2) on his only previous Eventing Ireland starts. Owned by the rider’s wife Orlagh and long-term supporter Grace O’Shaughnessy, the five-year-old Vancouver gelding, whose name is not officially-registered, was bred in Co Galway by Brendan Gardiner out of the Dolmen Deja Vu mare Dolmen Dongle.