DENIS Currie stepped away from the heady world of amateur eventing to go on holiday last weekend but there was still an excellent turn-out of nine starters for Saturday’s EI110 (Amateur) at Tullymurry.

The ding-dong league battle between Nichola Wray and Britt Megahey continued with the former claiming the honours on this occasion when completing on the winning dressage score she was awarded by Coreen Abernethy for her test on her nine-year-old Lislap Benedict gelding Dylan AKA Springhill Showman (31.3 penalties). Being a second over the time in the show jumping ring didn’t affect Megahey’s runner-up position with R Showman (33.9).

Winners at Tullymurry 1, Hollie Smith and Mr Diceman looked like bringing up an EI100 (Amateur) double when leading after dressage on 27.3. Unfortunately, eight show jumping penalties saw them drop to fourth of 10 behind the reigning champions, Samantha Dale and her ISH gelding Threeseas (28.8), a 14-year-old Ars Vivendi mare.

Alex Buller flew in from London to finish second on her mother Vina’s thoroughbred gelding Mr Marmalade (34).

Crafty win

Newtownards’ Gillian Neill landed the 10-strong EI90 (Amateur) on her winning flat work mark with her ISH gelding The Crafty Fox, a seven-year-old bay by Lancelot on whom she won the same class last year.

In the underage classes at EI100 level, Portadown’s Katie Robinson recorded an all-the-way success on her mother Cathy’s ISH mare Ophelia Cruise (24.5), an eight-year-old Landenco bay, to see off 15 Junior rivals while, likewise completing on her dressage score, Maya Constable brought up a hat trick of victories on her mother Kim’s Irish Sports Pony Rockon Pedro (23.8), a 14-year-old Newtown Pedro grey, in the four-runner Pony class.

It was a similar story in the six-runner EI90 (P) where Downpatrick’s Una McIlmail recorded a pillar to post success on Karen McCrissican’s Connemara gelding’s Lusmagh Anthem (29.3), an 18-year-old grey son of Cloughill Island.

Emily Turley, granddaughter of landowner Marian Turley, finished second on her first phase score with the previous week’s winner Budore Mystic Legend (29.8).