COMBINATIONS had to qualify for the two North Down Marquees Connemara working hunter classes at last week’s Balmoral Show where, when it came to the championship on the Thursday, the older riders held off their younger rivals.

Ponies partnered by those aged 10 to 16 were first to come before judges Marie Claire Nimmo and Barbara McGrath and here Co Wicklow’s Maya Von Moll and Lucy Osborne’s Tousist King improved a place from last May to win on a total of 91 points. The eight-year-old Plume De Kezeg gelding was bred in Co Kerry by John O’Sullivan out of Princess Menlo (by Coolillaun Cushlawn).