THE 2026 Stepping Stones to Success league concluded on Tuesday at Wexford Equestrian where, in three of the four classes, the winners of the finals also topped their league leaderboards.

Anne Marie Dunphy had a long day as dressage judge, as she had to assess those forward in the Treo Eile-sponsored thoroughbred to competition horse final. There were earlier exits for Johnny Kyle (conformation), Ian Fearon (show jumping) and Dag Albert (cross-country), who had travelled on from Ballindenisk.

The league is supported by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, through a grant delivered by Horse Sport Ireland, and also by the Irish Horse Board, whose support gave free access on social media to all of the video coverage of the finals supplied by Bit-Media.

There were a lot of busy people at the Tomhaggard venue on Tuesday, including Elliot Reeves, who represented the young horse finals and leagues sponsor Childéric Saddles, who also presented a bridle worth €500 to both final winners. Jane Hancock was on hand to present Carla Williamson with the Tiggy’s Trust award for the leading rider Under 18.

As she was at Punchestown where she saddled a winner, Eventing Ireland president Jessica Harrington couldn’t attend finals day to present her trophy for the leader riding Under 25 to the very much in-form Godrey Gibbons, while the team from Treo Eile were also at the Co Kildare track, where they had organised a dressage display and a parade of former champions.

Hopefully, future champions in a different code were in action at Wexford Equestrian, where local riders had a good day, starting in the Childéric Saddles four-year-old final and league won by Patrick Whelan on board Carrie Meehan’s Irish Sport Horse gelding Killycloghan Spotlight. The Z7 Seven chesnut was bred by Caroline and Craig Rountree out of the Carrick Diamond Lad mare Drumcall Carrick.

While a great many owners were present on Tuesday, Meehan, who runs Gold To Blue Sport Horses out of the United States, was an absentee as she had spent much of the previous week at the Defender Kentucky 5* event.

According to her main Irish advisor Patricia Hoey, Killycloghan Spotlight will next be targetted at the Young Eventhorse Series qualifiers as having a horse win at the prestigious Dublin Horse Show is very much an ambition of Meehan.

Cathal Daniels finished second in both the final and league with an unnamed Colorit filly out of a Cruising dam owned by German-based Turkish international event rider Kumru Say.

Disappointed at having to withdraw the Pointilliste gelding Master Point from this year’s Badminton 5* international horse trials having finished 13th there last season, south Co Dublin rider Ian Cassells and owner/breeder Bridget McGing will have derived some solace from the fact that they won the Childéric Saddles five-year-old final and league with Point Up.

This grey Upsilon mare, who is out of a Pointilliste dam, has one EI100 run under her belt and is due to take on similar company at Frankfort Stud tomorrow.

Fresh from his victory in the CCI3*-L at Ballindenisk at the weekend, Godfrey Gibbons finished second in both the five-year-old final and league, but on two different horses.

In the final, he filled the runner-up spot with Maurice Coleman’s ISH gelding Kilroe Gold I, a brown son of Lagans OBOS Quality out of a Colin Diamond mare while, riding for his boss at Belline Equestrian, Richard Ames, the Ballinasloe native claimed second in the league with the ISH gelding Belline Doros Candy Boy, a chesnut son of Sligo Candy Boy out of a Medaglia d’Oro mare.

Ian Fearon was double jobbing on Tuesday, as he plus Sally Parkyn and Andrew Williams were there to select horses for the inaugural Goresbridge Horse Sales’ Copper Beach Sale of four and five-year-old eventers and show jumpers, which is taking place on Monday, May 25th.

The trio offered wildcard entries to two home-bred Irish Sport Horses, viz Hans Juergen Kuehnle’s Tullibards Whats Up Boys, a Tullibards Bennys Legacy filly, and Brendan and Lisa Doyle’s Ballinaguilkey Cardi, a Cardento gelding, who finished third and fifth respectively in the four-year-old final.