WE don’t want months of no rain at all of course, but hopefully the drenchings people have endured over the first five weeks of the Baileys Horse Feeds flexi eventing series at The Meadows can be balanced by some nice dry weather as spring advances.

The final qualifying round in the series takes place today at the McCusker family’s Lurgan equestrian centre where, having won his Intro dressage on the previous four weekends, Isaac McCarthy had to settle for joint-third last Saturday with Suirvalley Little Monkey. However, as the Iveagh Pony Club member and Dawn Carlisle’s 19-year-old bay gelding were again clear at 90cm level in both show jumping and cross-country, McCarthy has amassed 59 league points.

Sarah Cowan is 11 points adrift in second with Patrick Heskin’s seven-year-old Connemara gelding Gleann Rua Storm (48) while she, in turn, is two points ahead of Rebecca Millar riding Ballygowans Ready Teddy Go (46). The next three places are filled by Kaiti McCann with Boyher Cookies N Creme (45), Berni Muirhead with her nine-year-old grey gelding Out Of The Blue (43) and Helen Sawey-Quinn with Conor (42). While cash prizes will be presented to the top 15 riders in the league, these six competitors are the only ones to have amassed over 40 points heading into the finale.

High score

Back to last Saturday’s dressage phase and, in particular, to the 27-runner Intro A, where Joanne Jarden awarded her highest score (69.8%) to Millar and her Irish Draught gelding Ballygowans Ready Teddy Go (Offaly Clover (Glen Heste Mist, by Ballinrobe Boy). Millar has competed the Noel C Hamilton-bred nine-year-old bay up to Medium level with Dressage Ireland and has shown him successfully in breed classes.

Sawey-Quinn placed second (67.5) with her Irish Sport Horse gelding Conor, the eight-year-old Lacken Cruise Lad grey she had such a good season on last year at EI90 (Amateur) level. Sharing third place with McCarthy and Suirvalley Little Monkey on 67.3 were Amy Roberts and her ISH gelding Clonmacash G Force, a six-year-old bay son of Black And Amber Clover.

Trailing his grandson in joint-seventh place in the league on 36 points is former multiple winner Denis Currie, who finished fourth (63.8) in the Jarden-judged Novice class on Saturday with his 16-year-old ISH gelding Merlot. Topping the seven-strong class on 66% was Erin McClernon with her 14-year-old ISH gelding Seapatrick Beachball (Beach Ball - Clonaltra Bluebell, by Moores Clover), who were also successful earlier in the series. Ciarraí Rice finished second (65.5) with her ISH mare Lady J (65.5), a 10-year-old bay by Hallo Picasso.

Eighteen combinations came before Joanne Cairns in the sole Pre Novice class, where she awarded three of them scores of 70%+.

Coming in third on that exact figure was one of the previous weekend’s winners at this level, Fiona Argue with Ella Boyle’s ISH mare Assagart Treasure, an eight-year-old bay by Ars Vivendi. This long-running series is, of course, staged by the Northern Region of Eventing Ireland, so it was good to see committee member Nicky Nesbitt fill the runner-up slot on 71.5 with her 15-year-old ID mare Carrickview Saratoga (by Crosstown Dancer).

Also riding for Boyle and her mother Mandy, Ben Rainey claimed the class honours on 73.3 with last May’s Balmoral Star of Future champion Monbeg Dunard Blue (Zirocco Blue VDL - Samenta, by Monaco). Bred in Athlone by Maeve Cuffe and a €45,000 graduate of the 2024 Goresbridge Go For Gold Sale, this six-year-old grey, who has been brought along slowly, is due to head down the affiliated eventing route this season.

Cairns also judged the 17-runner Intro B, where two combinations breached the 70% mark. The winner was 11-year-old Sienna Sands from Kilmore in Co Armagh, who achieved a score of 72.8 on board her mother Danielle’s Cleggan Cryss. This 15-year-old black mare has competed with both Eventing Ireland and Show Jumping Ireland when partnered by Sienna’s sister Ella Rose. A series regular, Kaiti McCann placed second with her father Martin’s Boyher Cookies N Creme, the 17-year-old skewbald mare she partnered to three EI90 (Amateur) victories last season.

The Napier family gave the series a miss last weekend, resting themselves up perhaps for Sunday when they could be found hard at work, building the cross-country courses at Tyrella. Don’t forget, you could get a sneak preview of the tracks being used at the two-phase on Saturday, March 14th and/or at the first NR one-day of the season seven days later by attending the East Down point-to-point at the Corbett family’s estate on Saturday, March 7th.