THE 20th Northern Ireland Festival gets underway at 8am next Friday in all six rings at Cavan Equestrian Centre, where it will conclude when the supreme Festival working hunter champions are crowned in the Gold Ring on Sunday night.

By close of play, the 20-plus panel of British judges will have assessed those taking part in over 170 classes and 55 championships. Over 2,200 entries had been received in time for inclusion in the catalogue by the April 5th deadline. Late online entries can be made up to midnight tomorrow, Sunday, April 26th, while they will be accepted at the show if class numbers allow.

I love the logo for this 20th Festival which, over a collage of photographs of former champions, fronts the cover of the catalogue. It also features on the tee-shirt worn by Nifty (Northern Ireland Festival Twenty Years), a souvenir teddy bear which will be presented to all champions at the show - in addition to rosettes and sashes.

The organisers have once again warned competitors and their support teams to ‘allow sufficient time to get into the showgrounds as roads around Cavan are likely to be very busy all weekend - every year people miss classes because they didn’t allow enough time’.

Details regarding the showgrounds, competitors’ numbers, etc can be found on the Festival’s website and social media pages. Don’t forget, a laminating service is on offer for numbers, with all proceeds being donated to Air Ambulance NI.

Qualifiers

Friday’s open racehorse to riding horse class, for which there are 15 catalogued entries, is a qualifier for the Dublin Horse Show. Dontbegonelong, who secured the sole ticket on offer here last year under Edel Whyte, went on to finish fourth at the RDS in August.

The Horse of the Year Show qualifiers for horses and ponies, both on the flat and over jumps, take place on Saturday and Sunday. Among the tickets bagged at Cavan last May by Nancy Lyons Teehan was that for the plaited working hunter pony final at Birmingham, where she won her class on her mother Louise’s Dartans Séoda Bán.

That now six-year-old palomino mare and Newydd Lady Marmalade, on whom Nancy won the 90cm Gold Cup class at Burghley last September, are among the many ponies that the talented young rider and her siblings Robin and Nicky George will be competing at Cavan next weekend.

The Festival also offers competitors the opportunity to qualify for The Showing Register coloured and amateur classes and for the Veteran Horse class at the Horse of the Year Show.