IT was one of those games of two halves last Sunday at Connell Hill, where the Northern Region of Dressage Ireland staged the fourth leg of its winter league. Those who competed in the morning session may not have appreciated the fact at the time, but they had by far the better of the weather conditions as it was very wet in the afternoon.

Young Kate Murphy made her affiliated debut here with her new ride, Top Hero 2, who had just his stable-companion, Red Hot Butterscotch, to beat in the FEI pony team test judged by Bernie Webb (List 3A). Top Hero 2, previously the mount of Oscar O’Connor, who rode him in the last four European pony championships, scored 68% while Red Hot Butterscotch achieved a mark of 66.29.

The winner, a 13-year-old Westphalian gelding by Top Champy, and the runner-up, are both owned by the rider’s father Ronan Murphy, the FEI’s director for dressage, para dressage and vaulting.

Uncontested

Erin McCoy recorded an uncontested double in both FEI Junior classes with Jane Howard’s Dutch Warmblood gelding Bjornsun, scoring 64.56% with the 17-year-old Johnson bay in the individual test, judged by Vanda Stewart (List 2), and 64.70 in the Webb-assessed team test. It was a similar story in the two FEI children on horses’ classes, where Stewart awarded a score of 62.68 in the team test to the sole starter, Millie Cosgrave on Let’s Dance, who achieved 67.46 in the Webb-judged individual test. The 16-year-old Oldenburg mare by Sir Donnerhall is owned by the rider’s mother, Sarah Mellor.

Stewart also judged the four-runner Elementary BD55, where her leaderboard was topped by Christine Newton with her Irish Sport Horse gelding Runaway Rebel (65.97%), a traditionally-bred nine-year-old son of Rich Rebel. There was a similar number of starters in the Medium BD73, where there was a runaway winner in 17-year-old Ellen McDonald riding her father Jim’s Dutch Warmblood mare Donna Karen JDJ (76.18), a 15-year-old bay by Lord Leatherdale.

There were four starters also in the Webb-judged Elementary DI51 where the sole Category 3 rider, Caroline Herron, ran out an easy winner on her home-bred ISH gelding Clantara Lord Louis (70.37%), a five-year-old son of Hoek’s Ludo W out of an Irish Draught mare by Gentle Diamond.

Close match

There was a very close match in front of Webb in the Medium DI67, where both Amelia McFarland on Kingston Olive and Penny Murphy with Kontiki scored 63.48%. However, the former claimed the class honours with the higher collective mark (59 to 58.5) on her home-bred ISH mare Kingston Olive. The Sir Donnerhall seven-year-old comes from the family of Sambuca (Olympic Games), Magennis (CCI5*-L) and the recent Goresbridge Go For Gold graduate Urbalreagh Limelight, a four-year-old Echonix gelding, who was knocked down for €24,000 to Austin O’Connor.

There were just the two starters also in the Advanced Medium BD98, but here there was a clear-cut winner in Jill Hobson with her ISH mare Furisto Seven For A Secret (65.66%), a 17-year-old bay daughter of Cavalier Two For Joy. The only combination to appear before Webb in the FEI Para Grade IV Novice A was Leanne Montgomery and Kerrie Hall’s Aughabeg Misty Patch (67), a 17-year-old skewbald mare by Aughabeg Patch.

Webb also judged the two Novice classes, where Joanne McSeveney topped both leaderboards with her new ride, Richard Finlay’s 12-year-old Hanoverian mare Donna Bella. In the BD37A, McSeveney and the chesnut daughter of Don Frederico scored 71.11%, while in the DI21 they won on a mark of 72.59. Donna Bella is out of the Wolkentanz I mare Walking Quenn.

Claire Ewing (List 6) judged the Intro and all four Preliminary classes, facing her largest field, 15, in the DI5A, where she awarded her highest score to the home-based Jodie Creighton and the unregistered Quinteros Mr Popular (69.11). Owned by the rider’s mother, Gillian, this five-year-old Quintero gelding, who has 30 Showjumping Ireland points, was bred in Co Down by George McCullough, out of the Luidam mare Lakota Star.

There were only five starters in the BD15, where Ewing’s top score (68.80%) was awarded to Category 1 rider Sarah Russell and her own Irish Draught gelding Dowdstown P.J. who competed in the Baileys Horse Feeds flexi eventing series earlier this year. As his name would suggest, this Carrabawn Cross six-year-old was bred in Co Kildare by James Hoare out of the Crosstown Dancer mare Dowdstown Belle.

Lorraine Gibson claimed the four-runner Intro with her 13-year-old piebald mare Miss Maisy Raine (70.83%) and there were uncontested victories for Tia Wheeler and the five-year-old black gelding Captain Blue (66.07) in the Junior Preliminary and for Harriet O’Hagan riding the 12-year-old black mare 00S Fairytale in the Trailblazers’ Under 12 Preliminary.