APART from their clear jumping rounds, there was little similarity in the phase scores of King Of Moveen and Dartans Red Mission, but they both shared the honours on 89 marks at the top of the older lightweight working hunter class at Forth Mountain on Tuesday.

We wrote about Doyle and her mother Claire Goodwillie’s 13-year-old Irish Sport Horse gelding King Of Moveen (Rehy High Society - Moveen Queen, by Glencarrig Finn) following their third-place finish, out of 25 starters, in the CCI1*-Intro at Millstreet last month. The 16-year-old works part-time at Kilkenny International and her summer targets, apart from Dublin, are to gain more experience at 1.10m level eventing and, as a member of the Kilkenny Hunt Branch, to compete in the Pony Club National Cup at Ballindenisk in September.

Ridden by Sarah McNally for Annamore Farms, the eight-year-old ISH mare Dartans Red Mission (Orestus VDL - Red Light, by Cavalier Royale), who was bred by Louise Lyons, also competed in that CCI1*-Intro at Millstreet, finishing seventh. Since then, with the addition of a few time penalties, the combination placed 14th of 28 at Hillcrest two weeks ago. Niamh Kirwan was a mark adrift in third when bagging her ticket on Freda Fleming’s eight-year-old ISH gelding Balief Imperial (88). This bay son of Imperial Tiger is out of the Aldato mare Lazio and is thus a half-sister to the Hermes de Reve mare Balief de Reve (CCIY3*-L) and to the Cara Touche gelding Balief Touchdown/Quality Touchdown (CCI3*-S).

Also now bound for Dublin are Brian Kane with his own nine-year-old ISH gelding Cal Master De Muze (86), a Pollux de Muze Z bay who competed with Kane in the workers at Dublin last August, when he was third in the ladies’ side saddle class under Becky Rafter. Cliodhna Brennan bagged the final ticket in fifth with the 12-year-old thoroughbred gelding Road To Emmaus (86), an unraced son of Sir Prancealot.

There were six clear rounds in that lightweight class and a similar number in the Traditional Irish Horse class, which was comfortably won by Bessbrook’s Lucy McIlroy on her mother Angela’s 16-year-old brown gelding Major Black (Imperial Hights - Tiney, by Silver Wonder), who was bred in Co Monaghan by Amelia Comiskey.

McIlroy represented Ireland with Major Black at the 2018 European Junior eventing championships in Fontainebleau, while they made their last completed international start at Kilguilkey House in July 2023, finishing sixth in the CCI2*-L. She has just started eventing Major Black’s five-year-old full-brother Rock On Russel.

“I’ve always wanted to compete in the TIH class at Dublin and thought this would be a good year to give it a go; we’ve always loved Traditional Irish breeding,” revealed McIlroy, who works for Co Meath racehorse trainer, Ger Lyons. “My mum Angela is planning on competing ‘Major’ in the amateur EI classes this year. I’ve been concentrating on the younger horses, so it was lovely for me to compete him on Tuesday and to qualify. I’m really looking forward to Dublin.”

McIlroy won by a five-mark margin from Sarah Lang, who finished second on Mark and Cassie Whitney’s six-year-old Moylough Legacy mare Cois Farraige (85). Laura Kelly was third on a Dublin regular, her 15-year-old King’s Master gelding HL Marley And Me (84), Stephanie Carter finished fourth on her five-year-old Pointilliste mare Killycloghan Kassandra (83) and Ivan Ryan claimed the final ticket on offer when fifth with his father Kieran’s six-year-old Financial Reward gelding IJ Through The Mist (82). It wasn’t that easy to follow the early action at Forth Mountain on Tuesday, as dense fog shrouded the Co Wexford venue for about an hour.