NOEL Dunne, who was the leading young rider of the 2021 Stepping Stones to Success league, recorded his first success of this year’s series on Wednesday when topping the leaderboard in the Childeric Saddles five-year-old qualifier with Cristiano TG Z (189.1).

A lot has changed in Dunne’s life since last spring as, in September, he moved into his own yard in Taghmon having started building on the land in March/April 2020. “I’ve 10 to 12 horses in all the time and, while I haven’t a lot of facilities as yet, I’m close to Wexford Equestrian and Forth Mountain so can more or less go schooling whenever I like. The plan is to slowly build up the place.”