THERE were close results in the championship classes throughout the day at last Sunday’s Connolly’s Red Mills/Association of Irish Riding Clubs’ national hunter trials championships at Nuenna Farm, with just a second separating the top two in the 17-runner RC100, where there was an optimum time of 5min 35sec.

Claiming the title in 5.36 was Coole Lane’s Leonard Reamsbottom on his 19-year-old Irish Sport Horse mare Lightening Spirit, while Donegal Gaeltacht’s Jenny Bonner narrowly lost out on victory when home in 5.37 with her similarly-aged bay mare Autumncannon. Kate O’Driscoll, a member of Earl’s Wells, was a good bit off the target in third (5.26) riding her Traditional ISH mare Ardkilly Lukes Charmer (5.26), a six-year-old daughter of Luke Skywalker.