WEXFORD’S Anna Radford must have been doubly happy with her 15-year-old Irish Sport Horse mare Essenar Double Dutch over the weekend, when the pair did the double, bringing home not one but two silver medals from the FEI Eventing European Championship for Ponies at Le Mans in France.

Anna started as she meant to go on, with a very respectable top-10 dressage score, adding just a few cross-country time penalties and keeping a clean sheet in the show jumping phase to secure the runner-up position individually, while she and her teammates also finished a close second in the team competition.

Irish team manager Debbie Byrne had named her squad as Armagh’s Kitty Cullen (Greenaun Russel (CP)), Waterford’s Lillymai Walsh (Chapel Hill Dark Spark (ISH)), Wexford’s Anna Radford (Essenar Double Dutch (ISH)) and Kildare’s Tadgh O’Haire (Ballinagore Hero), with Ellen O’Neill (Cadarn D’Heolan) and Molly Egan (Forans Daylight) competing as individuals.Following horse inspections on Wednesday, the eventing competition began on Thursday, with the first part of the dressage, which saw Cullen on the 10-year-old Connemara Pony gelding Greenaun Russel (Carracanada River x Greenaun Heather, bred by Seamus Mulroe, owned by Lisa Donnan) place sixth on the day on a score of 32.0.

Ellen O’Neill finished close behind in seventh place riding Cadarn D’Heolan to score 32.3.

Part two on Friday saw Anna Radford on Essenar Double Dutch (Luidam x Touch of Dutch, bred by Wright and Norris, owned by Maria Radford) score 31.1 to finish ninth. Cullen moved to 13th overall, with O’Neill just behind in 14th place. The leading dressage score of an impressive 22.4 came from Germany’s Lea Brugger on Golden Girl’s Nelly, with Noa Pelle (FRA) on Gin GT La Templerie in second place at that stage on 26.8, just ahead of third-placed Greta Marie Lohr and Rathcline Dream on 27.1. The Irish team sat in fifth place after the first phase.

On Friday morning, the decision was made for Molly Egan and Forans Daylight (aka Sunny) to withdraw from the championship.

The Irish pony team who claimed silver at the 2026 FEI European Championship for Ponies at Le Mans: Anna Radford on Essenar Double Dutch, Tadgh O’Haire on B, allinagore Hero, Lillymai Walsh on Chapel Hill Dark Spark and Kitty Cullen on Greenaun Russel, with team manager Debbie Byrne \ foto-job.com

Best of the Irish

Saturday was cross-country day, which saw some changes to the leaderboard. Radford came out best of the Irish again, when adding just 3.6 time penalties to her dressage score, moving her up from ninth into a brilliant second place on a score of 34.7. O’Neill added four time penalties, bringing her score to 36.3, which put her into fourth place.

Meanwhile, Tadgh O’Haire on Ballinagore Hero added 4.8 to finish the phase on 37.6 for seventh place and Lillymai Walsh on the nine-year-old Irish Sport Horse gelding Chapel Hill Dark Spark (Krafty Clover x Dungarvan Roseann, bred by Jennifer Hunt, owned by Des Kent) added 5.6 for time, scoring 39.5 for 10th place.

Unfortunately, Cullen was among a number of competitors to suffer elimination on Pierre Le Goupil’s demanding cross-country course, meaning that the team was thereafter without a discard score. At the end of the cross-country phase, the team standings saw Ireland in second place on a score of 111.8, just behind France who led on 108.5 and ahead of Germany in third on 120.2.

Clean sheet

Show jumping took place on Sunday, after the second horse inspection.

Radford kept a clean sheet to finish on her previous score of 34.7, which was good enough to keep her in the silver medal position. Walsh also remained fault-free in the show jumping phase to finish on her prior score of 39.5, which moved her up to fourth place - a mere 0.3 off a podium position.

Individually, O’Neill was next best of the Irish, picking up four faults in the show jumping to finish on 40.3 for sixth place. O’Haire was unfortunate to incur 12 faults in the final phase, putting him on a final score of 49.6 and in 18th place.

Pelle (FRA) and Gin GT La Templerie jumped clear to finish on 30.8 and take home the individual gold medal, while Isabella Giovannoni rode Clonberne Leedy to a clear show jumping round and an overall score of 39.2 to secure the bronze medal.When the individual scores were added together, France claimed gold on a final tally of 120.5, less than a fence ahead of silver medallists Ireland on 123.8, with Germany having to settle for bronze on a score of 144.2.