IN her final year studying Agricultural Science at UCD, Jane Field may not have much time to school Clonmoylan Red Hugh, but that didn’t stop the Oranmore combination from claiming the EI90 class at Sunday’s postponed second leg of the Eventing Ireland Western Region’s combined training league at the Milchem Equestrian Centre.

Field and the 15-year-old Connemara gelding completed on their Vida Tansey-awarded winning dressage score (30.8 penalties) while, for the second time on the day, young Oisin McDonagh had to settle for the runner-up spot, this time with his father Martin’s Irish Sport Pony gelding Full Moon Magic (32). In this 12-runner class, Conor Dunlop also recorded show jumping clears to finish third and fourth with Rios Lad (32.3) and Milchem Duchess (33.8).

Owned by the rider’s mother, Marjorie Hardiman, Clonmoylan Red Hugh was bred in Co Clare by Deirdre Ó Laoi out of the Garryhinch Finn mare Venus.

Gift

“We used to have Venus and Deirdre gifted us Hugh as a four-year-old,” revealed Hardiman. “Jane has had a wonderful time with him, competing in the high performance at Clifden and at the BSPS (British Show Pony Society) championships in England amongst other shows. Jane is in her final year studying Ag Science in UCD, but it doesn’t matter if she hasn’t time to school Hugh, as he is very much the old reliable and always pulls out ready to compete. We’ll finish the league with him, enter him up for the Northern Ireland Festival in Cavan (April 26-28) and then take it from there.”

Field qualified Clonmoylan Red Hugh once for the RDS Connemara performance hunter class, but that was in 2021 when the finals were held at Lambertstown, so qualification for Dublin could well be a target again this year.

Becky Scott’s bid to record a series double narrowly failed to materialise when, by virtue of a marginally lower collective score (27), she and her Calvaro Van De Rechri gelding RDM Ring of Mercury had to settle for second behind Leagh Daniels and Blackmoor Crest (27.5) in the EI100. Both combinations completed the two phases on their flat work score of 31 penalties, with Godfrey Gibbons finishing third on Milchem Miami (33) in the five-runner class.

Blackmoor Crest, who started out as a show jumper in 2007 before being campaigned with Eventing Ireland and the Association of Irish Riding Clubs, is a traditionally-bred Irish Sport Horse gelding by Sea Crest. The now 22-year-old was bred by Michael Neville out of the Broussard mare Park Cherry B.

Milchem-based Scott rounded off her competitive day by landing the three-runner EI110 on the ISH mare Athea Clover Dew (30.8 penalties), her 10-year-old Sibon W bay, who also won this class on day one of the series last month. As on January 14th, Godfrey Gibbons finished second with DS Conn Boy (34.5) and also placed third on Kilnamac Kasu (38).

The series continues tomorrow at Milchem, where the final takes place the following Sunday, February 18th.