AS at Tulllylish seven days earlier, there was a huge entry for the ridden Connemara qualifiers at Scarteen on Saturday when, again, classes had to be split in half to be judged with the top five in both divisions coming together for a final assessment by Patricia Hoey and Imelda O’Shaughnessy.

While the top five in each of these flat classes for mares and geldings bagged their golden tickets for the RDS, here we are going to concentrate on the winners, two of them coming out of Co Waterford while the other travelled down from Co Mayo.

Topping the final line-up in the class for ponies aged six years old and upwards, and confined to riders aged between 10 and 17, was the six-year-old Rathcoona Cove gelding Carramore Boy who was bred by Peter McCabe out of the Killea Island mare Claremadden Rose. The grey was partnered for Butlerstown’s Cheryl Cusack by her son Conor who, the previous evening, had been riding in a mile handicap at Cork for the David Marnane yard.

The 17-year-old is apprenticed to Henry de Bromhead for whom, over the duration of his transition year, Conor has been riding out on Mondays and Tuesdays, spending Wednesdays and Thursdays at Marnanes and then back to de Bromheads. Two weeks ago, he rode out for Dermot Weld. As he was otherwise engaged, Cheryl had to ask Conor’s older brother Ben to give the pony a jump before Scarteen.

Competing for her mother Emily Widger, Hannah Mackey topped the final line-up in the class for ponies aged six and upwards whose riders had attained their 17th birthday by January 1st this year. The Co Waterford rider, who will be going into Sixth Year when school re-opens in September, just about fitted into that age bracket.

Mackey’s win at Scarteen came on The General, a 12-year-old Glencarrig Prince gelding who was bred in Co Galway by William Connolly out of the Rynn Richard mare Connemara Rose. Mackey had a very successful season last year on another Connemara gelding, the 2007 I Love You Melody grey Ella’s Melody.

Co Mayo’s Hannah Gordon, who won a division of the older Irish Draught qualifier on the stallion DS Ballagh Bouncer, was also on the mark in this ridden Connemara division when landing the class for four and five-year-old mares and geldings – and for riders aged 12 and upwards – on her father Matt’s Rock Of Belass.

“I will try to get this fellow to some of the agricultural shows now and maybe do some dressage with him as he’s only a four-year-old and so needs as much exposure before Dublin as possible,” said Gordon of the Black Shadow gelding who was bred by David Coleman out of the Glanquin Larry mare Woodhaven Lily.