Balmoral Park opens its gates for the second time next Wednesday to the three-day Royal Ulster Agricultural Society show which, apart from traffic problems, proved a huge success at its new venue last May.

Traffic issues have now been addressed and national and international show jumping takes place on all three days from 9.30am. The jumping highlight will be Friday’s Barclay Communications & Bottle Green Grand Prix, won last year by Alex Butler and Harold McGahern’s Will Wimble.

New to the horse showing programme are the Stonebridge Premium Feeds young event horse classes for which three qualifiers were held last month. Fourteen four-year-olds and 15 five-year-olds have been entered. Dressage and assessment for conformation and type take place in Ring 2 on Wednesday evening, followed by jumping in the Main Arena on Thursday morning.

Another new class is that for ridden Irish Draughts, which has attracted 15 entries from around the country. Four of them are mares, including the sole four-year-old, Co Wicklow exhibitor Matthew Dickenson’s Pave The Way, who is by Huntingfield Rebel.

There is a disappointingly small number of broodmares entered for Wednesday but they do include last year’s champion, the Wafer brothers’ Ghareeb eight-year-old Miss Conci.

In contrast, there is a strong entry in the youngstock division particularly among the yearlings, where Dessie Gibson returns with his Emperor Augustus gelding out of Ballycapple Blackbird, who was second in his foal class last year. In the fillies’ class, Judith Sossick has entered a Cobra bay out of Loughview Diamond Lucy, dam of her owner/breeder’s Grade A mare Loughview Diamond Clover.

The 2013 reserve champion yearling, Martin & Walsh’s Imperial Choice, a bay by Emperor Augustus, is set to face nine rivals in his two-year-old geldings’ class. Among the TopSpec three-year-olds, the stand-out entry is Daphne Tierney’s Crosstown Dancer gelding Bloomfield Eulogy, reserve champion young horse at Dublin last year.

Lyndsey Wallace’s heavyweight Amiro M gelding Redemption Ground, who went on to take top honours at the RDS in August, returns to defend his Creightons of Finaghy champion hunter title on Wednesday.

Among the older horses, the chesnut could have most to fear from Edmond Mahony’s Quality Time and Julie O’Neill’s Lets Coast in his own weight division, Fiona Crowe’s Highdell Eclipse and Daphne Tierney’s Bloomfield Tetrarch from the middleweight class and, in the lightweight section, Wanda McIlwaine’s Dancing Queen and Kieran Ryan’s Skyline.

Tierney’s Bloomfield Excelsior has already proven himself a winning four-year-old while veteran show horse exhibitor Hugh Dunlop has a Power Blade gelding entered for the same heavyweight class.

Thursday’s new maxi cob class has attracted nine entries including the Kennedy sisters’ Gael Force gelding Kaduna and Audrey Smyth’s Welcome Flagmount grey Beechhill Flagmount. In the championship, the maxi winner will face strong opposition from the weight sections where many old favourites are catalogued.

As usual, there are good entries for the two ladies’ astride classes with a welcome increase in numbers for the side-saddle class.

There is sure to be huge interest in Friday’s Bluegrass working hunter section, especially the seven-year-old and upwards class where last year’s winner, Lady Perdita Blackwood’s Conundrum, returns in a bid to improve on his 2013 reserve championship placing. Following the birth of son Ben, Ashleigh Murphy makes a comeback to the saddle on Wexford Pimpernel, while among the in-form partnerships from the eventing world are Emma Jackson with Creevagh Connection and Sarah Moore with Shameless, her RDS workers’ champion of last August.

In Friday’s Ulster Bank Clydesdale section, the Glebeview Sir Charles filly Macfin Diamond Queen, owned and bred by the Hanna family from Ballymoney, returns to defend her title. Now two, she will be strongly challenged for championship honours by her year older stable-companion Macfin Crystal Gail who won her class last year. While the filly/mare numbers have held up well, there is a disappointing entry of colts and geldings. A young handlers’ class, sponsored by Macfin Clydesdales, has been added to the programme.

The hackneys really lit up the main arena last year and here too the Trimbles are prepared to defend their title, returning with their eye-catching black stallion Heartland Advantage.

In Thursday’s pony section, there are now three show hunter classes, instead of one, with their own championship. Gillian Torrens brings back the 2013 champion Acraglas By Royal Appointment for the ridden pony classes. Last year’s working hunter champion, A Touch Of Magic, returns to defend his title but, this time around, in the ownership of the McPolin family.

There is great support for the North Down Marquees ridden Connemara classes although numbers are down slightly for the working hunter division.

On the flat, Laura McWeeney’s now five-year-old Roo Bella returns for another shot at championship honours while no Connemara show would seem complete without Claire Devlin’s Blackwood Fernando, who bids to do likewise over fences.

A complimentary shuttle service to Balmoral Park will operate from Lisburn Train station between 8.30am and 9pm to the new showgrounds, while Translink (translink.co.uk) is also operating coach day tours. For more details on all transport options, go to balmoralshow.co.uk.