SINCE they first made their way on to the Dublin Horse Show programme, the performance Irish Draught classes have increased in popularity, quality and professionalism and this begins at the qualifying stage.

The Ryan family’s Scarteen venue has always attracted large entries and it was the same again last Saturday when the third of this season’s four qualifiers was held at the Co Limerick venue. Missing was the voice of Chris Ryan, who was on commentary duty at an eventing Nations’ Cup in Strzegom, Poland, but, included were a couple of controversies.