ALL present were on a winner from the off at the Burghley young event horse qualifier held during the Millstreet international horse trials as the highly informative commentary of Chris Ryan guided spectators through the two classes, aided by Tom Lawlor.

There are only two references to Diarmuid Ryan under ‘riders’ on the Eventing Ireland website, and they are from 2019. However, the Graiguenamanagh vet holds a dominant position when it comes to producing winners on the young horse performance circuit and he needed all his skills here as the jumping track was a genuine mix of cross-country and show jumping fences.

Last year, Ryan finished seventh on BT Just Special in the four-year-old qualifier, nearly five points adrift of the John Tilley-ridden winner, Jerpoint Will. On this occasion, he and Bridget Speirs’ home-bred Irish Sport Horse gelding weren’t to be denied as, on 86 points, they claimed the first of three qualifying tickets ahead of the Jason Doerflinger-ridden Milchem Gemstone (85) and the Lexi Kilfeather-partnered TDS Aurelia (84.5), a €35,000 graduate of last year’s Goresbridge Go For Gold Sale.

A bay son of I’m Special de Muze, BT Just Special was bred by Bridget and Nyall Speirs out of the Robin Des Pres mare Chitter Chatter who ran unplaced in a bumper and three maiden hurdles when trained by Jessica Harrington. Last year and this, he won both his leagues and finals of the Stepping Stones series while, in 2024, he also won the Young Eventhorse Series league. He competed in the Star of the Future final at last month’s Balmoral Show where his connections were happy with his performance but not as pleased with his marks.

On Tuesday of this week, Ryan and BT Just Special won the five-year-old Young Eventhorse Series qualifier at Tullylish, and once they have fulfilled the qualifying criteria for Dublin, that will be the gelding’s main summer target. If he does go affiliated eventing, his aim will be the Michael Leonard championship at the Ballindenisk international horse trials in September.

“Once we have his Dublin qualification out of the way, we’ll probably go show jumping with him,” said Ryan. “Bridget has his three-year-old half-brother (BT Bon Vivant, by Vivant van de Heffinck) and he’ll do the loose jumping qualifiers. While I was in Millsteet, I briefly checked out Newmarket Amy, who I won the four-year-old class on in Dublin back in 2022. She’s now ridden by Kevin McNab and I was delighted to see her finish second in the CCI3*-S as she’s just a seven-year-old.”