THE Kildare North Leinster Area of the Irish Pony Society held their busiest annual show to date last Sunday week when, as usual, it ran in conjunction with the final day of the Tattersalls Ireland July Show.

There were six rings in operation with around 220 ponies competing in the two jumping rings over excellent tracks built by Alan Lynch. Members of the Rawluk family put in a huge amount of work before, during and after the show, backed up by friends, area committee members and a large team of volunteers.

We would normally start reports such as this with the supreme championship, but here, special mention must be made of the Anna Byrne Working Hunter Perpetual Trophy Competition. This honours the much-missed, forever young Anna Byrne who was well-known in the showing, eventing and Pony Club worlds.

Britain’s Bronwen Evans and Co Antrim’s Kathryn Smiley, judges in the main working hunter ring, were charged with deciding who should be the recipient of the Anna Byrne trophy and the €500 bursary donated by the Byrne family. David and Anne Byrne, plus their daughters Jennifer and Katie, were on hand for the presentation to the judges’ choice of Nancy Lyons Teehan, winner of the Tailored Equestrian novice championship on the Connemara gelding Buachaill Buí, a seven-year-old cremello son of Templebready Fear Bui.

Nancy’s sister Robyn also qualified for the Challenge on the open champion, the six-year-old Dartans Seoda Ban, who has qualified for two classes in today’s working hunter section at the Gallagher Dublin Horse Show. Robyn and the six-year-old mare went on to win the overall starter stakes championship at Tattersalls where Stephanie Fleming stood reserve with the GoTu Trailers performance champion, Orla Whelton’s Dublin-bound 14-year-old grey mare Miss Money Penny.

At the end of a long day, the Connolly’s Red Mills, Foran Equine and Carr & Day & Martin supreme champion of the show was Chloe Lacey’s four-year-old Irish Sport Horse mare Boxchon Glamour Girl (Chance Casall - Woodview Lady, by Coolcronan Wood), winner earlier of the Barberstown Castle Hotel overall Intermediate championship under Charlotte Goor. Nancy Lyons Teehan partnered Buachaill Buí to stand reserve supreme.

“I purchased this mare as a two-year-old from her breeders, Orla and Eric Atkinson, who are among my best friends,” revealed Lacey of Boxchon Glamour Girl. “She has had a quiet but successful season, standing second in the four and five-year-old small hunter class at Balmoral while she was champion hunter at the Show of the East and reserve novice intermediate champion at the Northern Ireland Festival.

“Boxchon Glamour Girl had a break after Balmoral and this was her first show back. She will go to the RDS next week for two classes, the four and five-year-old small hunters and the Intermediate show hunters with Charlotte. I’m very lucky to have Charlotte as part of my team and she is also riding a four-year-old Connemara for me at Dublin.”

The reserve Intermediate champion was Regina Daly’s ISH gelding First Ruler (Anarchist - Keelnacally Carnival Puiss, by Puissance), who earlier won the ridden show pony class under Lyla Vice. On Wednesday of this week, Vice partnered the Alex Moynan-bred four-year-old to win the riding horse championship at the Gallagher Dublin Horse Show.

Kengarth Sally, winner of the show’s mini show hunter pony title, was crowned the White’s Agri mini supreme champion of the show at Tatteralls ahead of the Acrux Consulting mini ridden champion, Ronswood Silver Fox, a 10-year-old part-bred Welsh gelding by Sarum Raphael ridden by Fionn Redmond for his mother Aine Geoghegan.

Owned and led by Lisa Baker, whose six-year-old daughter Harriet was in the saddle, Kengarth Sally is an eight-year-old Welsh mare by Pendross Gwilym, who was purchased from Lyndsey Wylie about six weeks ago. Tattersalls was the chesnut’s third show for her new connections following successful outings to Mullingar and Nugentstown.

Harriet, who won the same championship last year riding Greendown Mandarin, is due to make her RDS debut on Kengarth Sally in this morning’s lead rein show hunter pony class where she will again be led by Lisa. Keeping a close eye on the action will be her three-year-old brother Jack, her father John and the latter’s mother Alice.

Taylor Lee Doyle had a very successful day on the Welsh gelding Telynau Darwin, starting off by finishing reserve to Nancy Lyons Teehan and Buachaill Buí in the novice working hunter championship. Doyle then partnered the seven-year-old Bunbury Fahrenheit chesnut to victory in the Mountain and Moorland working hunter championship before ending the day by being crowned Mountain and Moorland champions of show.

In both of their wins, Doyle and Telynau Darwin stood immediately ahead of Loneash Eirin, an 11-year-old British-bred gelding by Thistledown Blue Moon, who is ridden by Jocelyn Hutchinson for her mother Lorraine.

There was a very disappointing, and worryingly small, entry for the breeding and youngstock classes. The sole broodmare forward was Gerry Fennell’s Rosedale Yellow Rose, while Peter Byrne claimed the youngstock title with the only entry across the classes, Hilin Arcady.

The latter then finished second in the Mountain and Moorland small breeds’ in-hand class to Edwina O’Connor’s Section A grey gelding Springbourne Commodore. Partnered by the owner’s daughter Roisin O’Connor Laird, that nine-year-old won the mini ridden lead rein class and was reserve champion in the Acrux Consulting-sponsored championship.

The rosettes in the well-supported Dog Hub-sponsored local classes were once again presented by the dog rehoming services’ founder, Linda Martin.