DI Northern Region winter finals

Rain lashes down on Northern dressage finals

IT was a day of contrasting sports on the horse front at Castle Irvine, Necarne, last Saturday when the morning was devoted to dressage, in the form of the Northern Region winter finals, and the afternoon to racing, in the form of the Fermanagh Hunt point-to-point. The one constant was the rain.

“We definitely had the better of the ground conditions as the arenas here appreciated a bit of rain,” said regional chair, Joan Adrain.

“I know some of our members when finished would have loved to watch a bit of racing – or visit the beer tent – but everyone was so wet that they loaded up as soon as they could and headed home!”

Adrain (List 6) was one of three judges on duty on the day with the first of two championships to come under her scrutiny being the Junior Preliminary in the short arena.

The only combination to appear here was Robyn McMurray with her mother Barbara’s Irish Sport Horse gelding Rocco Banana Man (62.88%). This 17-year-old Cyrano gelding was bred in Co Down by Anita Morrison out of the Coronea Eagle mare Coronea’s Girlie.

In the Trailblazer Junior Preliminary (12-16) championship, the honours went to Ellie Campbell and the Connemara mare Killaspic Arya (63.08), a five-year-old grey by Killaspic Rebel out of the Curraghakeen Cashel mare Bawn Princess.

Others to top Adrian’s rankings on Saturday were Maeve Lunny on her nine-year-old dun gelding Sir Ward (69.41% in the seven-runner DI Introductory Test B) and Category 2 rider Joanne McKelvie with her eight-year-old PRE mare Peregrina LXX (66.92 in the 14-strong DI Preliminary P6).

Large field

The largest field of the day, 16, came before Michael Moore (List 2) in the Preliminary championship (BD19) where his highest score was achieved by Category 3 rider Lisa Dundee on her own ISH gelding Dunkeeran (69.79%). Bred in Co Laois by John Phelan, this five-year-old Coolkeeran bay is out of the Garrison Royal mare Turkstown Sarah.

Moore also judged the two-runner Junior Novice championship, where Robyn McMurray was the only one qualified on Rocco Banana Man (61.90%), the four-runner Elementary championship (BD59), which was comfortably landed by Category 3 rider Dale Roberts and his own Rademon Aachen (72.19), an eight-year-old by Antaeus, and the Advanced Medium championship where Jill Hobson and her ISH mare Furisto Seven For A Secret (62.37), a 17-year-old by Cavalier Two For Joy bred in Co Monaghan by Mary Thompson, was the only one qualified.

Non-championship classes

Non-championship classes judged by Moore were the DI Novice 21 won by Joanne McSeveney on Glenveagh Golden Eagle (64.66%) and the DI Medium 65 where he reserved his highest score for Dale Roberts and Kingston Rua (70.16).

The third judge on duty was Donie McNamara (List 1) who first judged the Novice championship (BD 39). Here, Lisa Dundee secured a second title but this time with the ISH mare, Roundthorn Nice N Easy (68.85%). This five-year-old by Formidable was bred by her Co Antrim owner Patricia Connon out of the OO Seven mare Unlimited Roundthorn.

Lana Cheney topped McNamara’s scores in the Medium championship with her Belgian Warmblood gelding Confession Z (66.67%), a 12-year-old bay by Clarence C. McNamara also judged the two classes which made up the Open championship where the title went to Karen McKeown who scored 61.75% in the Advanced with her own Dutch Warmblood gelding VSH Gangster, a 12-year-old son of Zambuka.

McNamara’s other winners on the day included Dale Roberts on Rademon Aachen (69.17% in the DI Elementary 52), Nicki McKee with Isperado (66.52 in the Advanced Medium), Lucinda Blakiston Houston on Beltrim Double G (Para Grade V intermediate test), Naomi Elkin on Apollo (55.50 in the Para Grade IV Novice test) and Austen Burns with Happy Feet 3 (65.63 in the Para Grade 1 Grand Prix B test).

They are a strict bunch in the Northern Region – if you didn’t put in your six hours of help during the league you didn’t qualify for the championship finals.