HISTORY was made at Portmore at the weekend when the facility’s brand new outdoor arena came into its first competitive use. The unregistered show held on Saturday saw over 100 combinations compete and this was followed by a very busy registered show on Sunday that featured almost 150 entries. The arena, measuring 128m x 60m, was constructed to a very high specification by Phelim McParland.

Competitors on Sunday came from a wide geographical area, but first into the arena was Michael Irwin from Killyleagh, who delivered a super double clear on Sheelagh Kennnedy’s Magic Iroko and was duly presented with a special bottle of wine to celebrate jumping into the annals of Portmore’s history.

It was obvious that the horses loved the feel of the new fibre surface and the results were testament to this.

One of the very welcome visitors was Casey Phair from Newtownbutler, who had a very successful day, culminating in a win in the 1.30m class with her mother’s Metralis.

Next Sunday sees Portmore hosting a leg of the TRI Ulster Region Summer Tour with classes at 1m, 1.10m, 1.20m and 1.35m Grand Prix. Entries for the Grand Prix must be made online with SJI by 4pm on Thursday.