Tara Dunne

DOZENS of riders travelled to The Meadows EC on Wednesday for their second chance to secure qualification for the four, five, six and seven and eight-year-old classes at Dublin Horse Show.

Some 85 combinations started in the four-year-old class, with 32 of these coming back for the second judged round. German judges Jens Meyer and Harm Thormaehlen were again tasked with evaluating the talent and deciding the seven placings available.

Meyer, a stallion owner and breeder, worked for the Hannovarian Society at the State Stud Celle and competed himself to national level in show jumping, while Holsteiner breeder Harm Thormaehlen is well known as the breeder of Capitol 1, Cera 1, Come On, Fein Cera and Quite Easy 1.

Under their watchful eye, the top three were separated by the narrowest of margins, with only a half a point deciding the upper end of the line-up.

The home-bred Cardento-sired Castlebridge Cassius, ridden by Sean Kavanagh, was declared the victor on a score of 89.50 points. The stallion is out of the Thunder Van De Zuuthoeve mare Bella Donna Van De Zuuthoeve, herself a capable performer under Kavanagh up to 1.35m level.

Catherine Thornton’s mount Drumiller Sensation (Arko – Puissance) was awarded 89 while third place went to Derrycastle Sensation (Cevin Z – Lux Z) piloted by Peter Smyth to a mark of 88.50.

Mervyn Clarke emerged as the victor of the five-year-old section with his own Je T’Aime Flamenco gelding Thomascourt BGS. The entries in this section had fallen from the previous qualifier, with only 74 going to post.

A triple clear would guarantee one of the nine qualifying positions on the day but Clarke came out on top of the 14-horse jump-off when logging a time of 35.38 seconds.

Clarke was over two seconds clear of his nearest rival Eddie Moloney and MHS Quinton (Quintender – Cavalier Royale). James Hogg, following up on an impressive runner-up showing at Balmoral last week with the Beach Ball-sired Intuitive, claimed third place (38.47).

The six-year-old class saw 87 starters listed and also went to three rounds. The timed decider saw 14 going forward for the nine available positions which would all be filled by triple clears. Gemma Phelan made the late finish worthwhile by taking the first of these with Noel Ryan’s Quality Coolcoran (O.B.O.S Quality 004 – Young Convinced), setting the unbeatable time of 33.42.

Michael Pender came closest to this time with the Barnaby Flight-sired Curra Clover Flight (34.30) while just off this pace was Nicola FitzGibbon with Castleforbes Angelina (Vivaldo Van Het Costersveld – Germino D’Elle)

Clem McMahon dominated in the seven and eight-year-old class filling the top three positions with progeny from his former Nations Cup mount Pacino.

All three were seven-year-old. Hilton Pacato (Pacino – Cavalier Royale) was the front runner, clear in 38.86. Just behind this was Hilton Pacifico (Pacino – Aldatus Z) while in third was Hilton CMS Paparazzi (Pacino – Indoctro)

Michael Duffy ensured the line-up was exclusive to seven-year-olds filling the next two positions with Castleforbes Vladimir and Castleforbes Violette, both by Vivaldo Van Het Costersveld.

The next chance for qualification comes on Wednesday next, May 25th at Barnadown.