JESSICA Burke claimed the first young horse championship of the Dublin Horse Show when her mount Lux A Special Lady was awarded top marks in the €10,000 Mo Chroi Four-Year-Old National Championship, sponsored by Horse Sport Ireland.

Burke commented: “The mare came in January lightly backed. She’s been super from the very beginning, she always felt like a jumper – very blood, careful and scopey. She hasn’t put a foot wrong all year. She placed third last week in the Discovery in Millstreet and was clear every day here.”

Owned and bred by Desmond Judge, Lux A Special Lady is by Lux Z out of the Coille Mor Hill-sired Aishling Clover. Well related, the mare is a full-sister to Special Lux, a former winner at the Dublin Horse Show as the 2009 Five-Year-Old Champion and currently jumping up to 1.60m in the USA with Jonathan McCrea. Lux A Special Lady is the final progeny from the line with plans in place hopefully to take embryos from the mare in the future. Sires currently under consideration are Luidam and Air Jordan Z.

Charged with the difficult task of judging Saturday’s top six finalists were British international rider William Funnell, and six-time Olympian for Spain, Luis Alvarez Cervera. On hand to show the finalists to the best advantage on their second time out were Irish Aga Khan Team members Bertram Allen and Mark McAuley.

Lux A Special Lady had showed consistently all week, finishing in the top 10 in Wednesday’s qualifier before going on to take the runner-up position on Friday.

The mare remained impressive in Saturday’s opening round coming through as a clear leader when awarded a mark of 79.5.

An impeccable showing under McAuley ensured the top spot for Lux A Special Lady who emerged as the clear favourite of the judges when again scoring the top marks of the day, receiving a score of 76.

Liam O’Meara’s mount Legaland Team Spirit was deemed the next best horse on the day by the judges. Giving an impressive display in his first round, O’Meara certainly kept the crowd on the edge of their seats when an exceptionally big jump over the penultimate obstacle saw O’Meara part company from Gary McNamara’s stallion.

O’Meara quickly remounted and finished the course in fine style but Legaland Team Spirit came through to the second round in the middle of the pack on a score of 69. The stallion moved up the line-up after his second round with McAuley, receiving a score of 68.

Bred by Joe Reilly, Legaland Team Spirit is by Sandro Boy out of the Heartbreaker-sired dam Dy-Oblesse. Another horse to come from a good dam line, Dy-Oblesse has also produced the seven-year-old mare Legaland Lux Breaker, currently showing good form under Joseph O’Brien with results this season in the CSIYH2* show at Valkensward and the one-star fixture at Beaumont Hague.

The Dignified Van’t Zorgvliet-sired Luxie B took third position when receiving a second round score of 64.75. Ably piloted by Sophie Richards, Felicity Cousin’s mare had caught the eye of the judges all week with top-five finishes in both qualifying rounds.

James Hogg and Drumiller Dynamic had looked like the pair to beat after winning both qualifying rounds but had to settle for fourth place overall with a second round score of 63.75. Bred by Paul Dillion, Drumiller Dynamic is by Plot Blue out of the Puissance-sired dam Revelene – the 2006 Dublin Four-Year-Old Champion under Trevor Bartlett.

Cillbhrid Bossy (O.B.O.S Quality - Master Imp), ridden by Michael Murphy, took fifth place on a score of 62.25, while completing the line-up, in sixth positon, was Catherine Thornton with Heather Crawford’s HSC Sunny Jim (Pacino – Conquistador).