ON Saturday, Simmonscourt was packed to capacity as enthusiastic spectators gathered for the Children on Horses Championship. The competition featured four teams competing in the Nations Cup format. Following a very close competition, it was the Johnny O’Connell team of Sam Widger (Jerenice Dysenbeeck Z), Matilde Hughes Bravo (Miss Belgium 111), Lily P Slattery (Captain Candy Man) and Arielle Allen (Kandice Z) that took the title, when they finished on a score of four faults.

In the first round, Lily P Slattery proved out of luck, when she was the only rider of the team that had a pole on the floor. Slattery returned in the second round to go clear, as did her fellow teammates. The runner-up spot was claimed by the Tommy Gibbons Green team of Henry Sinnott (Ridge Doughlas Lady), Daisy O’Dea (CSF Zurich), Ella Rush (Beach Buggy) and Max Galway (Cassido). Max Galway provided the discard score of eight faults in the first round, while his teammates maintained clean sheets. In the second round, Galway had an unfortunate eight faults, while Sinnott had one on the ground. With Galway’s score being used as the discard, the team carried four faults.