GIVEN that judging of the six-year-old and upwards Thorntons Recycling small hunters class on Wednesday afternoon was interrupted by the arrival into Ring 1 of Britain’s Princess Anne, it seems only fitting that it was won by Ebony King who went on to claim the championship.

Owned and ridden by Co Down’s Andrea McKee, the 13-year-old Aughabeg Patch gelding is now a dappled grey which is a far cry from the dark brown or black colouring of his coat when, as Glencairn Boy, he won the four and five-year-old small hunter class, and the championship, under P.J. Casey back in 2016.