THE young event horse classes at this year’s Dublin Horse Show were somewhat overshadowed by the scoring error in the five-year-old division, as covered in last week’s paper. However, even qualifying for the RDS takes a lot of effort on the part of owners and riders and all who get there have put in a huge amount of work.

It was disappointing that Daragh Byrne, who rode the winner of the five-year-old class, Paul Donovan’s A Sportsfield Diamond, missed his moment of glory in the RDS Main Arena on Thursday morning. His family were all there to support him as were many who were in the Ward Union Pony Club with the rider; he still wears the branch’s helmet cover.