A HUGE amount of work went into the ground ahead of this year’s third Eventing Ireland fixture at Frankfort Stud last Sunday, in order to combat the conditions caused by the recent prolonged dry spell. The benefit of this was reflected in how, though entries were smaller than on previous occasions and many riders chose to run slowly, the vast majority did undertake the cross-country phase.

“The day went off relatively smoothly,” said organiser Will Kearney, “and there was a lovely, relaxed atmosphere about the place. Lower numbers meant we were able to run all the show jumping through one arena, which meant horses could warm up on the sand and we could focus on having the ground as good as possible in the ring. There wasn’t a lot of sleep got by myself or my father on Saturday night as we spiked every warm-up and competition area for all phases. We used over 50 tonnes of sand in front of and behind every cross-country fence to help reduce the impact of the ground conditions.”

Comfortable

Patrick Whelan and his own Augustus Coleman emerged as comfortable winners of the Overlander EI110 when they were the only combination in the 24-runner class to finish inside the optimum time in the final phase. They added no further penalties to their Jill Spring-awarded dressage score of 30.5 to rise from fifth after the first phase. Dressage leaders Amanda Goldsbury and Alltogether Cooley (22.3) were among those to drop down the order due to time faults to finish in fourth, while Ian Cassells dropped from second to eventual third with Carol Gee’s Tresor V’t Dauwhof when they added penalties in both jumping phases.

Jane Fitzgerald and the traditionally-bred Ballymurphy George (by Pointilliste) rose from 10th after dressage to take the runner-up position here when they posted one of the faster cross-country rounds of the class, adding just 3.6 time faults to their first phase score of 34.8.

A similar climb

Megan Adams and Olivers Girl made a similar climb in the Overlander EI110(J), rising from fifth after dressage to second. The combination kept a clean sheet through the jumping phases to finish on their first phase score of 34, behind Isla Coad and Lollylop PH. Coad rolled one pole in the show jumping arena as well as finishing nine seconds over the time cross-country, but her excellent first phase score of 24.5 gave her a wide enough margin to maintain her lead.

Ella Doddy and Sportsfield More Fusion were unchallenged on their way to winning the Overlander EI110 (Open) on a total score of 51.8, while the same can be said of Dublin-bound Brooke Kenny and Cupid’s Magic Shadow in the Overlander EI110(P) (44.3). Two combinations contested the EI110 (Amateur), and it was Melian Griffith-Lan and Monatrea French Influence who maintained their first phase lead to emerge as victors on 39.2.