THERE were dedicated amateur classes at all 10 Eventing Ireland national one-days staged between Sunday, May 14th and Sunday last, July 2nd.

However, four of those did not run EI110 classes so extra kudos to Symone Brown who won three Novice events in that time period with two Irish Sport Horses.

Merlot, the vastly more-experienced of the pair, started the season with two third-placed finishes at Tyrella and then saw off four rivals to win at Hazeldene on Saturday, May 20th. A trip down from the Northern Region to Rosanna seven days later failed to reap dividends as he was retired halfway around the cross-country course.

The next stop for Brown and Merlot was the new Clonmahon House event on Saturday, June 10th when they got back on the victory trail despite adding 8.8 cross-country time penalties to their winning dressage score. Incidentally, that four-runner class was sponsored by Co Meath master farrier Anthony Lynch whose wife Caroline competes under EI rules.

On her fifth outing of the season, Brown’s second ride, Premier Lara, finished fifth of eight in the EI100 (Amateur) at Clonmahon House. She was then moved up a level and recorded her first EI success in the EI110 at Ballindenisk (1) where she and Brown scored narrowly from the very consistent pairing of Noelle Reidy and Ballinhassig.

Having moved from Howth, Symone and husband Jim are settling into their new home between Dromore and Hillsborough where Symone has not only been able to find someone to help her with her horses but also a gardener who is happy to assist with the other 14 acres.

“When we moved up first, Steven Smith kindly agreed to keep the horses while we sorted things out,” said Brown who competes in internationals for her native Australia although, from the age of six, she was raised in New Zealand. “I started having lessons with Steven then and have kept going to him. I find him to be an amazing trainer; he has so much knowledge and is so helpful.

“Thanks to assistance with wording for an advert from Dora Beacom (the Northern Region’s event co-ordinator), I have a fantastic girl working with me named Zoe Jameson who also works at Tullyraine Equine Clinic.”

We did discuss Symone’s horses. “Merlot is the type of horse who could break your heart,” said the owner/rider of her 13-year-old Lancelot gelding on whom she won the EI110 (Amateur) title at last year’s national championships in Lisgarvan. “The mare (Premier Lara) is completely different. We are still working on her dressage but she is a machine across the country. You just have to face her in the general direction of a fence and she will do the rest. I would like to get her into some of those young horse classes. Both are going to the new event, The Clare, on Saturday (today).”

In the EI110 (Amateur) league, Brown and Merlot are currently in third place on 40 points as Clonee’s Denis Coakley tops the leaderboard with Sugar Bunnie (52) ahead of Reidy and Ballinhassig (42).

Since June 2021, Coakley has rarely finished outside the placings on the 13-year-old Porsch mare Sugar Bunnie. The chesnut is out of Sugar Cube (by Renkum Englishman) and so is a full-sister to Sugar Brown Babe (CCI4*). From seven outings this season, Coakley and Sugar Bunnie won at Frankfort Stud (3), Kilguilkey House (1) and Rosanna (1). They also finished second to Brown and Merlot at Clonmahon House and fourth of nine to Amy Parsons and Wellfields Casino Royale at Grove.

Season debut win

On their first outing of the campaign, Co Cork-based Noelle Reidy and her 17-year-old black gelding Ballinhassig won the EI110 (Amateur) class at Hillcrest (1). They have finished second on their subsequent three outings – to Coakley and Sugar Bunnie at Kilguilkey House (1), to Brown and Premier Lara at Ballindenisk (1) and to Parsons and Wellfields Casino Royale at Grove.

Wales native Parsons and her six-year-old bay gelding not only saw off eight rivals in the EI110 (Amateur) that day at the Ponsonby family’s Co Tipperary estate but were the only combination, from 76 starters, to complete on their dressage score at Novice level. Parsons was quick to acknowledge the benefits of attending the Janet Murray-organised training days with Caroline Moore.

Registered with the British Hanoverian Horse Society, Polly Stephens’ Wellfields Casino Royale is by Casiro I out of Double Take (by Detroit) out of a mare by Londonderry.

“My Dad (Roy) bought the horse as a two-year-old and later sent him over to us to break,” said Parsons, us encompassing her partner Anthony Fox. “I was riding him at four but then became pregnant with my daughter Francesca so we sold him to friends of ours in Britain. They sent him back to us when he was five and, although he is a big, tall horse, I’ve been riding him ever since,” said the former Flat jockey.

“I did the six and seven-year-old class on him at Millstreet and the plan now is to do the CCI2*-L at Kilguilkey (2) with the CCIYH2*-S for six-year-olds at Cornbury House in September being his next target. He is the only eventer in our yard as Anthony trains point-to-point and breeze-up horses and does a bit of pre-training for others.”