THOROUGHBREDS who come off the flat usually find the show jumping phase of eventing less of a challenge than their National Hunt counterparts and one such is Dawn Arrival who completed on his dressage score of 28.8 penalties to win the EI110 at Lightsource BP Tyrella (1) last Saturday.

Ridden by his Co Meath-based owner, Nicola Ennis, the seven-year-old faced 32 rivals heading into the Angeline Nicholson-judged dressage phase after which, on 28.8 penalties, he shared second place with the Joseph Murphy-ridden Fighting Spirit, just behind his stable-companion, Killossery Kitten (28.5).

The last-named had a pole down show jumping as did Fighting Spirit who also picked up time penalties across the country. A double clear inside the time saw Steven Smith fill the runner-up spot with Tessa Westbrook’s six-year-old I’m Special de Muze gelding, Lavori (30.3).

Dawn Arrival, who failed to worry the judge in six outings on the track when trained first, by his breeder, Jim Bolger, and then by Garry Caldwell, comes from the first crop of his Bolger-bred sire Dawn Approach who, on March 25th, 2012, recorded the first of his eight wins in a two-year-old maiden at the Curragh.

“This horse just loves jumping!” enthused Ennis of her chesnut on whom she won the Horse Sport Ireland-sponsored EI110 for six-year-olds at Punchestown last October. “Because he never raced over hurdles or fences, I was able to teach him to jump like all my other eventers and he took to it immediately. We’ll keep going at this level and I’m aiming him at the CCI2*-S at Ballindenisk after which we will take it from there.

“This was a super event with two good jumping tracks which were of a good standard and jumped well.”

Third in the EI115 (Open) with OBOS Take One, Suzanne Hagan won the EI100 where she led throughout on Anne Magee and Jane Hancock’s Karolita O (24.8), a seven-year-old Firestone mare on whom she rounded off her 2021 season with victory at the same level at Punchestown (3) in October.

Second in this 33-runner class was Elaine O’Connor with Helen Fletcher’s 13-year-old Cyrano gelding Sir Barnabus (28.3), horse of the series at the recent Baileys Horse Feeds flexi eventing league.

Andrew Napier, who, with his wife Laura, will be hosting a Northern Region event at their Hazeldene Farm outside Ballynahinch in early May, recorded an all-the-way success in the EI90 on his ISH mare, Hazeldene Etch A Sketch (24.8).

The home-bred six-year-old is by the Irish Draught stallion Scrapman out of another home-bred mare in the Etch A Sketch (by Sempers Spirit). Here, Co Meath-based veterinary surgeon Robbie Collins finished second on his first phase score with the unraced thoroughbred Dunrath Archibald (26.5), a five-year-old newcomer by Chinook Eclipse.