THERE was plenty of competitive action at the West Midlands regional qualifier held at Tipperary EC last Sunday, hosted by Mill Road Riding Club in Thurles.

The day kicked off with the 90cms riders and Siobhan Stapleton riding The Peeler for Mill Road opened the jumping. At the end of the first round, four teams were on zero faults - Clonlara’s Blue team, Mill Road’s Mac M team, Clonshire’s Elite Team and Hillcrest’s Green team and five teams were on four faults, making for a very exciting second round.

In the end, three teams completed on zero faults - Mill Road, Clonshire and Hillcrest. The three team captains of Megan Sheedy on Featherbed Lass, Marie Crosse on St Helene and Amy Walsh on Keylogues Gold had to jump-off over a shortened and raised course. Mill Road’s Megan Sheedy was first to go and had an unfortunate pole down in a fast time off 58.76. Next in was Clonshire’s Marie Crosse who completed on an unfortunate eight faults, this left the door open for Hillcrest’s Amy Walsh to ride a steady clear which she duly did thus securing the winning spot for the Horseware Ireland Team Show Championship at the RDS in July.

The winning team is Ruth Walsh riding Kingston Knight, Dermot O’Donovan riding Ballyrussell Brigade, Katie Frazer riding Keylogues Red Clover and the team captain Amy Walsh riding Keylogues Gold. Mill Road now get to go through to the wild card qualifier for the RDS at the Riding Clubs Festival in Stradbally in June.