“I’M old enough and wise enough now to know that nothing is a fluke in this game,” said Howth, Co Dublin-based Australian Symone Brown who recorded an all-the-way success in the Arachas EI110 (Amateur) championship on her Irish Sport Horse gelding Merlot.

“You have to put in the work, do the training and surround yourself with the right people if you want to succeed.”

Brown keeps her horses on livery at Thornton Park Equestrian Centre in north Co Dublin which she doesn’t have to leave for either dressage or show jumping training. “Mark Ruddock is in Thornton at least once a week for dressage as is Jack Doyle who is a high performance show jumping coach. If I need any help with my cross-country riding, Nicola Ennis is my go-to-girl; she is amazing.”

Vanda Stewart and Bernie Webb judged this eight-runner class at last weekend’s Horse Sport Ireland/Eventing national championships at Lisgarvan House and had Brown in front on 35.4 penalties. She cemented her position at the top of the leaderboard with the only show jumping clear and while she was a second over the time over the cross-country course on Sunday, her total of 34.9 left her well clear of Davina Gray whose three-phase score of 41.4 on Hacklim Moxie included four show jumping penalties.

“Merlot can be a bit quirky across the country – he actually stopped at the practice fence on Sunday – but he is a marvellous, rock solid show jumper who gets me out of all sorts of bother,” continued Brown. “My young horse, Premier Lara (a five-year-old mare by Jackaroo) is the exact opposite. I’m riding her in the Michael Leonard CCI1*-Intro at Ballindenisk but Merlot is already on his holidays.”

Confident

Grove (2) and Punchestown (3) are still on the agenda for the unraced thoroughbred Belle Saru who, under joint-owner Caroline McQuillan, won the Arachas EI100 (Amateur) championship despite adding four show jumping penalties to her Joan Ahern and Derval Diamond-awarded dressage score of 25.2.

Lucy Toombs recorded a double clear to finish second on Bluestone Ice (31.4) as did Michael Butler who placed third with Monemore Joule (36.4). Rolline O’Callaghan, who won the dressage phase on Splendid B (21.4) dropped right out of contention with problems in both jumping phases.

“I was absolutely delighted with Saru,” said McQuillan who owns the six-year-old Sageburg mare in partnership with her sister, Rosemary Bellew. “There has been some change since last year! The plan originally was to go to Ballindenisk but I decided to give that a miss and, while upgrading would seem the logical step for next year, I’m confident that she could do it but I feel safe and happy at a metre.

“I did the course walk with Clare Abbot and I have to say that it really helped. One thing she pointed out that really struck me was how to ride the minute markers. I walked the course three times again on my own after that and I rode to the minute markers on Sunday.”

Orla Maguire, who only began competing under EI rules at the start of the season, was crowned the 2022 Arachas EI90 (Amateur) champion on Sunday having completed on her Lynn Cassidy and Maire Quinlan Pluck-awarded dressage score with her Frankfort Stud (2) winner, MBF Quick Decision (30.9).

Maguire and her seven-year-old OBOS Quality 004 gelding were one of just four combinations to jump double clears in the 15-runner class, that quartet also including Aoife Hanratty and Ciarraí Rice who finished second and third respectively on Newtowns Silver Bobby (32.2) and Lady J (32.7). The show jumping phase caught out 11 combinations including the eventual fourth, Eve McDowell and Nakuti who led after dressage on 28.7.