IN common with the first YES/RDS qualifier held at Tullylish the previous Tuesday, they were extremely fortunate with the weather there again last Saturday, when the Stevenson family hosted the first of the RDS Connemara and performance Irish Draught qualifiers.

The judges on Saturday for the performance classes were James McEvoy (jump) and Bets Coleman (rhythm and fluency) while the tasking of assessing horses and ponies in the flatwork phase and for conformation was split between Georgia Stubington and Catherine Abbott.

Also in common with Tuesday, the busy Newtownards-based Jackson Laing qualified with a winner, that being Carol Murdoch’s 2018 gelding Doon Da Vinci (Newgrange Lad - Doon Maggie Ann, by Parkmore Bobby), who amassed 243.5 points in Section B of the eight to 15-year-old Connemara performance hunter qualifier.

Alicia Devlin Byrne qualified in second on Peter Lawlor’s home-bred stallion I Love You Jazz (236), a nine-year-old son of I Love You Melody.

The Sean Luskin-bred Doon Da Vinci won two EI90 classes last year with Eventing Ireland and has been placed this season in two very well-filled classes at Tyrella. Last month, he was crowned Connemara working hunter champion at Balmoral having won the older riders’ class. Like others on Saturday, he also contested one of the ridden Connemara qualifiers.

The day’s highest score (252.5) was recorded in Section A of that class by Co Kildare’s Eliza Jane Queally on her mother Rachel Brew Queally’s Glenrock Lisa (Coosheen Stormboy - Glenrock Robyn, by Frederiksminde Hazy Match), a nine-year-old mare bred by Sean Hoare.

Fellow Kildare Pony Club member Elsa Mai Walsh also qualified in second on her mother Gillian’s Ardnehue Red Robin (251), a 10-year-old Burning Daylight mare on whom she finished sixth in the CCIP2*-S at Millstreet.

Paid dividends

Sophie Mullane’s trip up from Co Limerick paid dividends, as she landed Section A of the five-to-seven-year-old qualifier on her own John Giles-bred 2021 stallion Kilmurray Cain (Hector Of Loughfadda - Duncan’s Dream, by Derrymore Duncan). This combination won the prestigious green hunter final at Clifden last August.

The ever-busy Ciara O’Connor claimed the second ticket on offer with Fiona Gahan’s Firbolg Dun (245), a seven-year-old gelding by Kippure Columbus, who also qualified here last June for the four and five-year-old class at Dublin, where he finished fifth.

Pauline Dahill entered two ponies from her Lismore, Co Waterford yard in Section B of that younger class, both of whom competed in the five to seven-year-old final at Dublin last August and who qualified again in first and second on Saturday.

This year, 15-year-old Sarah McGuire partnered the winner on 241 points, the Kevin Fallon-bred Star In The Night (Lightening Star - My Daisy Eile, by Rathcoona Cove), a seven-year-old mare who is owned by the rider’s mother, Soyna Sheehan. Dahill, who rode that dun in Dublin last August, claimed the second ticket on William Griffin’s Hogan’s Charm (239), a six-year-old bay gelding by Ross Fear Bui. Last year, Hogan’s Charm finished second in the final, while Star Of The Night was fourth.

Some combinations were not as well prepared as others for the challenge of competing on grass and over the undulating ground at Tullylish, which is typical for the area.