Living in Portrush, Alex Houston usually has an early start to her day to get to events but the 23-year-old, who is in her final year studying civil engineering at Queen’s University, had a relative lie-in on Saturday as she made her seasonal debut locally at Maddybenny.

In the 23-runner pre-novice class won by Jayne Moore on Lisa’s Dream (25 penalties), Houston finished third with Skyfall Echo who she purchased over Christmas 2012 from the Smith brothers. Last August, the Co Antrim combination won an intro class at Tullylish and was placed at pre-novice level both at Ballyvannon and here at Maddybenny. They had a disappointing end to the season with a fall at Kilmanahan and a couple of cross-country stops at Monart (3).