STRONG winds in Punchestown on Easter Monday dusted off the cobwebs for many of the showing community’s first day out of the season.

Tom and Maria McNamara made the long trip from Galway worth their early start, with Shanbally Pippalo Pat securing the Supreme title at the Kildare Branch of the IDHBA’s Punchestown show. The strapping son of Jimmy Quinn’s Cappa Aristocrat, bred by McNamara’s neighbour, Martin Donnellan, took all before him, in the four and five-year-old ridden and ridden championship before showing experience beyond his years to go Supreme Show Champion and take home the Kildare Branch Perpetual Plate.