Using the venue as a handy warm-up for Tattersalls, the older horses enjoyed confidence-giving rounds, while those with younger performers were happy to give them a nice education over the pre-novice and intro courses.

This will have been pleasing news for hosts Gerald and Dominic Furnell, who last Saturday were making their EI debut as course designers. While largely following the existing tracks, the father-and-son duo added their own distinctive stamp, as did brother Patrick, whose artistic touches in both jumping phases were a feature throughout.

“We have been trying to make ourselves independent, and it’s important to keep coming up with new ideas,” remarked Gerald Furnell. “We aim to add a bit every day, and we now have our own set of show jumps. This was only the second running of our two-star track, and while we were pleased with the result we plan to stiffen it a bit for the fixture in July.”

Adding to the individuality of the event, Furnell also took the unusual step of making the €5 start fee a voluntary one.

“I’m not a great believer of it [the start fee] as I think it’s a bit of a Ryanair ploy,” he explained. “I know it’s a way of gaining more income, but I feel that it’s an expensive enough sport anyway.”

Although the wet preparation and drizzly conditions on the day were less than ideal, the ground in the country held up positively. Some high scoring show jumping rounds indicated that it was testing in that area, but on the plus side, riders were pleased to see that the actual ring sizes had been doubled since last year. Course builder Kevin Bartley gave the runners plenty to do, and making every use of the extra space available there were eleven fences in the one and two-star classes.

foot-perfect

Tattersalls-bound Joseph Murphy turned his first visit to the venue into a winning one, when he dominated the proceedings in the O/CNC**. Riding the foot-perfect Westwinds Hercules, Murphy led from the front on 26.4, finally recording the only double clear round.

For good measure, he also enjoyed a classy run with his Annaharvey victor, Kilpatrick Dancer, who, despite rolling two rails in the show jumping, remained in second spot (38.5).

“[I am] delighted with the pair of them,” said Murphy afterwards. “I thought they had built a really nice track. The rain had actually left the going favourable, and there were three or four nice questions which tested the younger ones. Although Dancer had two show jumps down, he jumped well, and he just found the ground deep going into the double and the combination.”

Another to have two down, Denise O’Brien slotted into third with Tommy B Good, while, having show jumped clear, Luca Stubbington (Kilminchy Condor) dropped to fourth after incurring an unlucky glance off at the corners.

Of the remaining two starters, Allan McSweeney and Rock a Bye Balladeer called it a day at the tricky mound to skinny combination at fence 13 and Fergal Nesbitt did the same at the following corners.

Much to the delight of their American owners Tom and Carol Henry, it was the turn of the Donegan Ryan team to score in the CNC**. Watching from the sidelines, the enthusiastic couple saw Michael Ryan and It’s A Clover impress the flatwork judge to gain a mark of 26.4 before winning with the only double clear.

“He won it nicely,” commented Ryan of the son of Gerrys Clover (dam by Malmsey). “I rode him here to give him a sweetener after he put in a green stop at Floors last week. He’s only just back to full work, so we will probably head for a CIC*** later in the summer.”

As one of only two riders to make the time in the country, Joseph Murphy was equally pleased with the second-placed Killossery Athletic Touch. A couple of errors over the coloured poles added eight penalties to his opening score of 33.6, but according to Murphy, this eight-year-old is a horse for the future.

“His inexperience in the show jumping caught him out, but he looks to be growing into a very nice horse,” he said.

The corners again proved troublesome for Luca Stubbington (Olivers Green) but it was good to see the remaining runners return home error free. Time faults in both jumping phases dropped Alan Briscoe and KMS Earl into third, from Brian Coleman (Euralia A) in fourth.

Patricia Ryan may have been short of opposition in the O/CNC* but she could do no more than produce two foot-perfect jumping performances with the French bred Ballylynch Take Advantage. Running in his first competitive event for almost four years, the 12-year-old cruised home, adding 18.4 time penalties to his opening score of 32.5. Stable companion Ballylynch Sky High (ridden by Nicole Elson) was the only other starter and was eliminated after falling at the seventh.

Moving on to land the second leg of a double, Ryan headed the leaderboard in the far more competitive, 33-strong CNC*. Riding former Go For Gold graduate Kilpipe Jewel (Ghareeb), the Bandon rider was one of only seven to leave the show jumps intact, and one of just two to complete on her opening score (36.5).

“He’s had a slow start to the season with time off, but hopefully we can get cracking now,” she said.

“They have done a great job here. The track was more flowing than in previous years, and there was plenty to look at.”

Aside from a few isolated errors, the cross-country phase ran without incident. Narrowly missing out on a family one-two, Michael Ryan moved into third spot with Udi La, while Jane O’Flynn was pleased to fill second with her chance ride, Dancing Royale.

Owned by the Bowler family, and sent to O’Flynn to compete for two weeks, the clean-jumping daughter of Ghareeb has clocked up plenty of pre-novice mileage under her junior rider Alice and is currently on the market.

In the final class over the CNC* track, Shannon Sheridan was unopposed to win the CNCP** with Tullibards Done and Dusted.