LAST Sunday was a good day in the office for Niamh McEvoy as she dominated the opening round of the Plusvital Premier Series at Barnadown. Along with claiming victory, an outstanding performance also saw her take third and fourth places in the €15,000 class, the first of seven prestigious legs.

McEvoy took the win and top prize of €4,500 aboard Max O’Reilly Hyland’s Rock Warrior when she was fastest of six double clears. Bred by Max’s mother, Barbara O’Reilly Hyland, the eight-year-old gelding is by Casall La Silla out of the Castor mare Cassi. He was campaigned by his owner from a five-year-old up to Grand Prix level last year.

Speaking after the win, McEvoy said: “Rock Warrior had been produced by Max O’Reilly Hyland all along in Ballypatrick. It’s great to see a horse come up through the ranks and step up to 1.50m. He is quite new to me and I was really impressed with him.

“Over the course of the show, we had brilliant tracks and the ground in Barnadown is always class. It was a lovely place to step an eight-year-old to 1.50m and to do it so confidently. The horses were in great form today and I had three in the jump-off. The other horse that I was third with was Olympic GL FVD; he’s an 11-year-old and he is also new to this level. I was delighted with how he jumped today. He is another horse that has been in Ballypatrick for about a year and a half now.

“The horse that I was fourth with was BP Rocket Man which is a home-bred. It was also nice to see Tabitha Kyle and BP Goodfellas, another home-bred and a gold medallist at Lanaken, jump brilliantly today. He is only eight and it’s his first 1.50m. Harry Wood jumped another home-bred, BP Limitless. All have been produced in Ballypatrick.”

McEvoy added: “We have a few busy weeks coming up. We left some horses at home this week to keep them fresh for Balmoral next week and then we have Dublin qualifiers and then Mullingar. It is great to see these Irish shows doing so well and the horse learned so much over the great courses.”

Competitive

There was a strong turnout for this first round of the series with 58 battling it out over the John Doyle-designed course. With a strong standard vying for the honours, 14 booked their place in the second round and five were denied a place due to a single time fault.

First to go against the clock, Niamh McEvoy put it up to the rest when she delivered a clear with BP Rocket Man in 43.56, which would later see them take fourth. She set off strongly and got a great turn-back to fence three. She then negotiated a tight turn from the double (oxer, one stride to a vertical) back to the blue planks. She took the tall penultimate vertical at an angle and pushed on to the last vertical. By Stakkato Gold, Rocket Man was bred by GBBS International out of the Quidam Junior mare BP Quidy and is owned by Richard Kirby.

One combination later, Mikey Pender reduced the target to 42.99 aboard HHS Cyprus. Pender took the same lines as McEvoy, but was tighter back from the double to the planks and had reached that point of the course at 23 seconds, as opposed to McEvoy at 25 seconds. Bred by Marion Hughes and owned by Bravo Hughes, the nine-year-old gelding is by Cornet Obolensky out of the Acorado-sired HHS Acorado.

Next up, Francis Connors and Carrigshawn Vendi Royal, came home clear in 47.18, which would see them slot into sixth place. Owned by Francis, Jenny and Kate Connors, the nine-year-old mare was bred by John Warner and is by Dondoctro Ryal K, out of Carrigshawn Vendi.

McEvoy returned with her second mount, Rock Warrior and knew what she needed to do. She negotiated an extremely tight turn-back to the planks and made up the time towards the end of the course to clock the winning time of 42.79 and, in the process, demote Pender and HHS Cyprus into second.

Ethen Ahearne had his eye on the win as he took it on with Dermot Walsh’s LVS Goldrush H. Although he took a similar path to those before him, a clear in 43.81 would only see him take fifth place. Bred by Heritage Bloodstock, the nine-year-old gelding is by Stakkato Gold out of Arcadia LVS Z (Stakkato). This pair finished third in the final of the TRM Show jumpers Club Spring Tour in Coilog last month.

Third last to go, McEvoy returned aboard BP Olympic GL FVD with the win in hand.

Keen to add to her haul, she set off at a determined pace, but just wasn’t as tight back to fence three or the penultimate vertical, however, their time of 43.07 was enough for third place. Owned by Keith Ennis and bred by Francois Van Duffel, the Belgian Warmblood is by Galisco Van Paemel.

The next round of the series takes place at Mullingar on the June Bank Holiday weekend. The top two horse/rider combinations will receive invites to the five-star classes at the Dublin Horse Show after the Tattersalls leg on July 27th.