IT’s hard to keep a good man down and while he didn’t get anything qualified for the younger Berney Bros Saddlery Connemara performance hunter class at last week’s Dublin Horse Show, Diarmuid Ryan did book a ticket for the eight to 15-year-old division.

And he made the most of that opportunity by winning the championship with Naomi Murphy’s Pem Boy. The nine-year-old Clifden Silver gelding, who was bred in Co Galway by Michael Moran out of Ballinvoher Lady (by Rathcoona Cove), qualified early at Tullylish as he had done in 2023 and 2024 when he failed to be placed.