OWNER Richard Ames has paid out a lot in entry fees for this year’s Young Eventhorse Series, and for the Dublin championships for which many of his horses have qualified, but got some money back on Wednesday at Rincoola where his Caitie Slater-ridden Kief Amazing Marco was confirmed winner of the league for Junior/Young Rider event horses.

The five-year-old Luidam gelding, who was bred in Co Cork by Barbara Bowles out of her Cruise On mare Cruise Countess, won at both Tullylish and Scarteen to win the league on 20 points. The six-year-old Sibon W mare Fanlehane Nariah placed second on 18 points for the father and son duo of owner Edward and rider Matthew Kelly while Co Armagh’s Katie Crozier slotted into third on her sister Alison Berry’s 2016 Tullibards Bennys Legacy mare Mountview Storyteller (15).

Of the three, only Kelly and Fanelhane Nariah (296.5 points) competed on Wednesday when the Wexford combination finished second in Section B behind last season’s league winners, Bryan Bourke and his father Donal’s Killea Quality Cruise who secured his place in the Dublin line-up on 302.5 points.

This six-year-old OBOS Quality 004 gelding, who was bred in Co Cork by Thomas Doyle out of the Cruising mare Molougha Cruise Hill, won the EI100 (J) national championship at Lisgarvan last September and then placed fourth in the CCI1*-Intro at Ballindenisk. He has only competed four times this season with Eventing Ireland, winning an EI110 (J) at Frankfort Stud in April.

Also picking up a Dublin ticket on Wednesday was Janet Collins’s seven-year-old Waveney mare Waverley (295) who was partnered by Grace O’Donoghue as she has been under EI rules since last summer.

There was a comprehensive win, and Dublin qualification, in Section A for the Conor Leahy-ridden Sinoia Chelsey (300 points) who finished clear of the previously-qualified seven-year-old Prescotts Diamond mare Diamond Dreamer, who earned 291.5 points under owner Sophie Mullane, and the six-year-old Craigsteel gelding Fort Arthur Buddy (286.5) who was ridden by Holly-Ann Desmond for Alice Copithorne.

The continuing success of the Young Eventhorse Series owes much to the dedication of the venue owners and the drive of co-ordinator Angela McGahern. In addition to running their own league, the organisers have, for the past number of years, staged the RDS performance qualifiers for Irish Draught horses and Connemaras and this year took on the added challenge of running the flat Connemara qualifiers for Dublin.

Results

Young Eventhorse Series Junior/Young Rider event horse (five to seven-year-olds, with prize-money sponsored by Horse Sport Ireland) – 1, Richard Ames’s Kief Amazing Marco (Caitie Slater), 5yo gr/ro g by Luidam – Cruise Countess, by Cruise On, bd Barbara Bowles 20 points; 2, Edward Kelly’s Fanlehane Nariah (Matthew Kelly), 6yo ch m by Sibon W – Rossaguile Q, by Castlecomer Q, bd Michael Walton 18; 3, Alison Berry’s Mountview Storyteller (Katie Crozier), 6yo ch g by Tullibards Bennys Legacy – Clonincurragh Artemis, by Charante, bd Thomas Hutchinson 15.