ROLLINE O’Callaghan saw off the professionals to win Eventing Ireland’s 2023 Equilume Power Average league with her striking palomino Irish Sport Horse gelding Splendid B, on whom the Co Kildare mother of three also topped this season’s EI100 (Amateur) points league.

The Equilume Power Average is the average of a horse’s three best finishing scores in EI events and all levels of competition are treated equally.

O’Callaghan and Splendid B, a 13-year-old son of the ISH stallion Smooth Operator B, recorded an average of 21.1 penalties when winning EI100 (Amateur) classes at Tyrella 1 and 3 in March and April and at Kilguilkey House (1) in May.

Co Wicklow-based Amanda Goldsbury finished second with Cooley Farm’s ISH Coolnorran Cooley (21.7), the black I’m Special de Muze gelding on whom Goldsbury is set to represent New Zealand next week in the CCI2*-L for six-year-olds at Le Lion d’Angers (where she also rides Cooley On Ice).

This combination won all five of their EI100 starts this season, their counting scores being recorded at Tyrella 1 and 3 and at Frankfort Stud (3) in early May.

Junior rider Maya Byrne marked her first season competing under EI rules by finishing third here on Kim O’Gorman’s 11-year-old Harlequin du Carel gelding Wolf Pack (22.7).

Their counting scores came through their EI100 (J) wins at Frankfort Stud (3), Ballindenisk (1) in mid-June and at the inaugural EI Grassroots Championships at Lisgarvan House in late August.

Splendid

In the EI100 (Amateur) league, O’Callaghan and Splendid B, who was bred in Co Westmeath by Etter Sportpferde out of the Loughlum Sadat mare Miss Boogie B, amassed 70 points from seven outings. In addition to their wins mentioned above, they finished first at Rosanna (1) in May and in July at Crecora (2), where they signed off for the season. They also placed second twice and third once.

Co Down’s Christina Turley finished second in the league with her 15-year-old gelding Ann’s Bob (64 points) on whom, from eight starts, she was never worse than fourth. They won three times this season – at Tyrella (2) in early April, at Tullymurry (1) in mid-July and, last time out, at Vesey Lodge in late August.

Fellow Northern Region member Lucy Toombs filled third place in the league with her ISH gelding Bluestone Ice (60 points from nine outings). Toombs and her 15-year-old son of Creevagh Grey Rebel crowned an excellent 2023 campaign when winning the EI100 (Amateur) title at the EI National Championships at Kilguilkey House early last month.

Among the EI100 (Amateur) winners towards the end of the season not mentioned previously was Charlene Fitzpatrick who, riding her ISH gelding A Touch Of Frost, an eight-year-old grey by Womanizer, landed the four-runner class at Kilguilkey House (3) in mid-August. This combination finished fourth in the league on 52 points.

On the second of just three starts this term, equine dental technician Niamh Martin landed the seven-runner class at Tullymurry (3) on Lady Bell (by The Swarty Hero).

This is the nine-year-old traditionally-bred ISH mare, on whom Martin won both the mares and lightweight hunter championships at the 2022 Dublin Horse Show.

First success

The final EI100 (Amateur) class of the regular season was held at Clyda (2) on Sunday, September 3rd, when Grace Queally recorded her first EI success, in her first season, on Rachel Brew’s British Sport Horse gelding Unbelievable Honour, an 18-year-old bay by Unbelievable Darco.

The two-runner EI110 (Amateur) class at the Co Cork event that day was won by Zoe Kavanagh who, as she changed levels during the season, didn’t feature high up in the league placings with her father Dick McElligott’s ISH gelding Farrellys Tavern, a 10-year-old chesnut by VDL Arkansas.

The league honours were narrowly claimed by Nichola Wray with Dylan (aka Springhill Showman), her seven-year-old grey gelding by Lislap Benedict, who is said to be out of a thoroughbred mare. In 10 EI outings this season, which garnered them 68 points, the combination recorded four wins and were second, third and fourth twice. They also finished seventh of 27, on their dressage score, in the CCI1*-Intro at Kilguilkey House in late July.

The fellow Northern Region pairing of the ever-consistent Denis Currie and Arodstown Aramis filled the runner-up spot in the league with 66 points. Currie and his 18-year-old ISH gelding by Shannondale Sarco St Ghyvan only started seven times this season, winning on three occasions, finishing second a similar number of times and, surprisingly, being eliminated for a fall at the final cross-country fence at Hazeldene in May.

Noelle Reidy, from the Munster Region, finished third in the league with 64 points from nine outings on Ballinhassig. They recorded two wins, both at Hillcrest, four second placings and a third and fifth-placed finish. They too were eliminated for a cross-country fall.

The combination’s fifth-place finish was at Kilguilkey House in mid-August, where Brid Cronin claimed the EI110 (Amateur) honours on board her ISH gelding Talking Tom, a chesnut seven-year-old by Hi Kilrainey.