AFTER she finished third in the small riding horse class here in 2019, Ciara Mullen left Ireland to join Jayne Ross’s powerful showing yard in England for a year.

Last week, she left Dublin with the Tiernan Gill Brooklands Bedding riding horse title in the bag thanks to Chantilly On The Rocks and thoughts of what might have been in the show hunter championships had her winner of the four and five-year-old lightweight mares’ class, Ballarin For Joy, not been cast overnight forcing her withdrawal.

Chantilly On The Rocks, a four-year-old mare by the Dutch Warmblood show jumping sire Guinness, always topped the line-up of judges Kirsty Aird (ride) and Bridget Millington (conformation) as action commenced in Ring 1 on Wednesday morning. Ballarin For Joy’s rider/producer, Nicola Perrin, moved up from third to second with another four-year-old mare, the OBOS Quality 004 bay, Ballarin Baroness, who was to stand reserve.

Many ringside would agree with Mullen’s assessment of her champion who was bred in Co Galway by John Healy out of the Hector van d’Abdijhoeve mare Stripe Hector Lady. “She’s really special!” said Mullen who owns the bay in partnership with her mother, Rufina Shiel. “I first came across her when house sitting for Paul and Imelda O’Shaughnessy (behind this writer in the lengthy queue for wristbands on the opening morning) with my boyfriend Lee who works for Paul.

“He sent me out to the fields to look at a three-year-old small hunter who was very raw and I didn’t think much of her. However, every time I walked away I felt like I was missing out on something so, when Paul and Imelda came home, I bought her.”

“I broke her over the winter and she had the most amazing attitude. We decided she was a riding horse as she has a quality step and she was champion first time out at the Northern Ireland Festival; I didn’t run her in the supreme as I felt she had done enough.

“She then went out to the field for six weeks before coming back into work for the Mullingar Showing Show where she rode slightly green, finishing third. Then we decided to try qualify her for the Red Mills championship so took the long journey to Charleville where she was champion riding horse, qualifying for the final!

“After a another few weeks in the field, we brought her to the Tattersalls Ireland July show for the Red Mills champion of champions final where she was reserve in the ridden horse section to The Peaky Blinder – we felt like we had won being second to him – and then onto Dublin. She is on the market like everything else but we’re equally happy to keep her and run her in some Intermediates next year and aim for the Intermediate side-saddle in Dublin.”

The 2019 champion, Leave It To You, stood third in the original line-up but was withdrawn from the class by connections who weren’t entirely happy with the 15-year-old who will now be wrapped in cotton until the Horse Of the Year Show.

Last week’s ‘large’ class was won by Carmel Crowley on her own and Malcolm Hosty’s traditionally-bred Master Gigolo, a 19-year-old Master Imp gelding, who was bred in Co Monaghan by Seamus Hanratty out of the Touchstone mare Catstone Kelly.