THE popularity of the working hunter classes at the Tattersalls July Show meant that British judges Margaret Hopkins (ride) and Louise Gaunt (conformation) had a very long session on Saturday when their first class in the TopSpec arena started at 9am and it was around 8pm when they crowned their champion, the Lillymai Walsh-ridden Chapel Hill Rose.

This was very much a bittersweet moment for connections of the five-year-old Irish Draught mare as her registered owner, Desi Kent, died suddenly six weeks ago. He had purchased the daughter of Bannvalley Silver Dancer as a two-year-old from the late Sadie Murphy who bred Sunday’s champion out of her Gurraun Zidane mare Lilly B.