THE Childeric arena at Barnadown hosted the RDS five-year-old qualifier last Wednesday week (June 24th), where 80 combinations took on the 1.20m course, designed by John Doyle. When asked about his approach to designing courses for the qualifiers, John said: “I believe it is important to be watching the horses during the year, so that you can design the courses according to the ability of the start list. With the ever-improving quality of both horses and riders, it’s important to have a fair and flowing course with time a little tighter than at regular shows.”

Out of the 80 starters, 31 combinations made it into the second round and 15 progressed to the third round against the clock. The course was raised to 1.25m for the jump-off, where 12 golden tickets were on offer. There were 12 triple clears in the jump-off and Castlefield riders were on top form, taking the top two places. Jason Foley on Castlefield Paris, owned and bred by Castlefield Breeding Farm, came out on top, when jumping triple clear in 43.32. The Castlefield Kingston bay mare edged ahead of Eoghan Fahy on Keatingstown Spirit, by Je T’Aime Flamenco, owned and bred by Sharon Fitzpatrick, who crossed the finish line clear in 43.69 - just 0.32 seconds behind Foley.