THE Eastern Region of Dressage Ireland held a very successful, well-attended show last Sunday at Marlton where, thankfully, the weather was on-side which helped the ever-efficient Peter Roberts who was on call-up duty.

Category 1 competitor, Rita Naughton had a busy and rewarding day, riding five tests which saw her qualify two horses for the DI National Championships at Mullingar in September.

One of these is the Oldenburg mare Action’s Bond Girl, a six-year-old by Action Blue, on whom she recorded the highest score (76.15%) in the 24-runner Preliminary DI6 judged by David Lee (List 4) and in the Novice DI21 (74.31) where the 17 combinations forward were assessed by Bróna O’Mahony (List 4).

In the 20-strong Preliminary BD19 judged by Lynne Cassidy (List 3), Naughton again topped the final leaderboard with an Oldenburg mare but this time on the Dembelé L five-year-old Diamant Babalou (70.85) who, in common with her stable-companion, was having her first DI start since early March.

Cassidy also judged the 12-runner BD Novice 39, where she awarded her highest score to Category 1 rider Emma Barry on Josephine Delahoyde’s 12-year-old piebald mare Marlton Oreo (72.69) and the five-strong BD Medium 69 won by Category 2 competitor Isobell Linnane with her Irish Sport Horse mare B Posy (68.48), a 12-year-old daughter of Ramiro B.

Two closely-matched combinations came before Cassidy in the FEI Pony Team Test where the honours went to Laragh Byrne on board Jan Heine’s German riding pony Steendieks Dali Gold (71.43%), a nine-year-old palomino by F.S. Don’t Worry. Oscar O’Connor had to settle for second on this occasion with Top Hero 2 (71).

Highest score

Riding the unregistered Deravarra Rise And Shine (69.72%), a seven-year-old ISH gelding by Caricello, Chloe Fagan topped the scores in the seven-runner DI Elementary 52 judged by Bernie Webb (List 3a) and the Co Westmeath rider also recorded the highest score in the David Lee-judged DI Medium 65 with the unregistered Comte Ligniere Z (72.34).

Fagan partnered that 14-year-old Zangersheide gelding to finish fifth of 30 in the CCI3*-S at Ballindenisk last month and has him entered in the CCI3*-L at Millstreet.

In action at Balmoral Show on Saturday, when she was fourth in the 133cms open working hunter class on her mother Carol’s Frosthill Jackaroo, Category 2 rider Isla Coad recorded the highest score in the eight-strong O’Mahony-judged BD Elementary 59 with Laura Hagger’s nine-year-old dun Klein Roderijs Gold Fee (69.69%).

Category 2 rider Jennifer Rea initiated a double when winning the four-runner, Bernie Webb-judged Advanced Medium class (FEI Junior Team test) on Fermoyle Charles (67.27). Mark Ruddock (List 1) wasn’t as generous as other assessors on duty as between the nine classes he judged, from Advanced Medium upwards plus young horses, only four combinations recorded scores over 65%.

Two did so in the three-runner Advanced Medium BD98 where both the aforementioned Jennifer Rea on Fermoyle Charles and Lydia Dawson with Clonswords Alf were on 67.50%. Rea and her eight-year-old S Creevagh Ferro gelding got the nod with their higher collective score (55-54).

Josephine Delahoyde, who was the sole starter in the FEI Inter A, scored 67.97% for her test on her mother Barbara’s 11-year-old Holstein gelding Cashmere while, in narrowly seeing off her only rival in the FEI Grand Prix, Sorrell Klatzko recorded a score of 65.43 with her 10-year-old Westfalian gelding Turbo.

In the Junior Trailblazers’ Preliminary DI5A, five combinations came before Lisa O’Brien (List 6) whose winner on 73.04% was Patrick Murphy riding Suzanne Kendrick’s 15-year-old black mare Clogorrows Poppy.