TEAMS and individuals representing Branches of Area 17 of The Pony Club travelled over to Auchlishie in Scotland last weekend for the Scotland, North England and Northern Ireland NAF Regional Championships, where they competed against their counterparts from Areas 1, 2 and 19.

The action started last Friday with show jumping where, in the 15-strong PC80 championship won on a zero score by West Perthshire, the East Down Galaxy quartet of Penelope Black, Harvey Copeland, William Steele and Darcey Turley finished as reserve champions having picked up four faults. Riding the 22-year-old grey gelding Knockbordan Revelation, Steele fared best individually in fourth.

In the 13-strong PC70 team championship, the Iveagh Orcas’ Alfie Hagan, Kacie Wickie and Sienna Sands got through to the jump-off where, with 16 faults, they finished third behind Cumberland Farmers Hunt South, who completed on zero, and Lanark and Upperward, who were second having had one pole down in the jump-off.

Three Area 17 members finished inside the top 10 in the individual championship - East Down’s Rose O’Connor (third on Hill Farm Pebble), the Iveaghs’ Sienna Sands (fourth on Cleggan Cryss) and East Down’s William Steele (eighth on Silken Melody).

Dressage

Friday was devoted to dressage and here, on a converted points’ tally of 14, the East Down Black Magic foursome of Rose O’Connor, Emma Turley, Jessica Curran and Molly Anderson finished third of 16 in the PC70 Foundation Championships, behind Strathblane Starlings (four) and Cumberland Farmers Hunt (five).

The best individual performance was recorded in the 17-runner Section C, where the Iveaghs’ Sienna Sands comfortably topped the final leaderboard on 72.8% with the 15-year-old black mare Cleggan Cryss. Representing the East Downs, who did so well at the Area dressage, Rose O’Connor was sixth of 17 in Section A on the 14-year-old black mare Tullymurry Galaxy (65.4), Emma Turley was sixth of 16 in Section B on Diamond Dee Shadow (69.6) and Molly Anderson was fifth of 17 in Section D on Hamish McNips (68).

In the PC70 ride-off, Sands and Cleggan Cryss finished a close-up second (71) behind Phoebe Hilland of the Cumberland Farmers Hunt South Branch riding Iris Country Town (71.4).

There was no Area 17 representation in the PC80 Grassroots team championship, but there was in the individual, where the East Downs’ Rose O’Connor placed third in Section B with the Irish Sport Horse mare Hill Farm Pebble (73), a nine-year-old black mare by Centre Stage. The Route’s Eva McCafferty finished eighth of 15 in Section D riding Silver Pebble (64). Unfortunately, none progressed to the ride-off.

The East Downs had also performed with distinction in the Area eventing and, on Saturday, finished second in both Regional Team Championships.

At PC70 level, the Branch’s Dolly Mixtures quartet of the busy Rose O’Connor, Jamie Newsam, Annie Lucas and Emma Turley recorded a combined penalty score of 114.4 to finish reserve to the Braes of Derwent South Red (109.2) and just ahead of Cumberland Farmers Hunt South (115.2). An Area 17 team of the Iveaghs’ Kacie Wickie and Abigail Rollson plus Tullylagan’s Erin Bates finished fourth of the nine competing squads.

The highest-placed Area 17 individuals in each of the four sections, who all completed on their dressage scores, were the East Downs’ Rose O’Connor who was second on Hill Farm Pebble (33.8) in Section E, Jamie Newsam who was fifth on the 23-year-old dun gelding Gold Digga VI (43.4) in Section F and Annie Lucas who was sixth with the 12-year-old grey mare All Being Well (37.2) in Section G. In Section H, O’Connor also fared best in fourth with Tullymurry Galaxy who had a fence down show jumping (36.6).

Seskinore’s Ana Donnelly competed in the PC70 Plus championship, where she finished fifth on her flatwork mark (35.2) with the 18-year-old bay gelding The Alders Bobby Dazzler.

In the PC80 team championship, where three of the 11 squads failed to record a completion score, the title went to the three-rider Area 2 Blue team on a total of 93.2 penalties. Here, too, the East Downs had to settle for second (105.4) despite the efforts of Darcy Turley, Penelope Black, Izzy Napier and William Steele.

Individually, Turley finished fourth in Section J on the 12-year-old skewbald mare Marvellous Maisie (32), while Black, who had a fence down show jumping, was fourth in Section K with the 13-year-old black gelding Two Socks Blackshaw (40.4).

Napier’s finishing place of third wasn’t affected by her two cross-country time-penalties in Section L with the 12-year-old Centre Stage mare Hazeldene Elsa (36.2) and a similar comment can be made of William Steele who, despite 1.6 cross-country time penalties, filled the runner-up spot in Section M with Knockbordan Revelation (37.2).