Devlin Byrne bids to retain title

SIXTEEN ponies qualified for the two Young Eventhorse Series RDS national Connemara performance hunter championships at Lambertstown next Tuesday with one stallion, five mares and 10 geldings being listed for both classes.

Co Wicklow’s Alicia Devlin Byrne won the eight to 15-year-old division in 2019 on Aidan Jones’s roan stallion Brock Blizzard who is now show jumping under Ruben Foley, brother of show jumper Jason and National Hunt jockey Jack.

She will bid to retain the title next week on Yvonne Vard’s Blackwoodland Breeze, an 11-year-old gelding by Glencarrig Prince who won the 143cms Derby at Killossery last Sunday under the owner’s daughter, Alisha.

The grey is out of a mare by the jumping influence I Love You Melody as is the Niamh Ruane-owned and -ridden 14-year-old Silver Shadow gelding, Irish Cousin.

Silver Shadow is sire also of Geraldine Dempsey’s Lisnadrisha Nikiao, one of two home-breds in the class along with Deborah McCann’s Hollywood Chase Me Charlie, an eight-year-old gelding by Murvey Ronan.

A win for Brackagh Dream, who is out of a Westside Mirah mare, would be a major achievement for owner Liam Lynskey and rider Hannah Gordon as the pair combined to win this championship in 2016 with the 10-year-old grey gelding’s sire, Black Shadow (a son of Silver Shadow).

The stallion in this division is the Lucinda Kelly-owned and ridden Killaneen Boy, a nine-year-old dun by Western Boy who won the younger pony class here in 2017 and, more recently, both the flat and working hunter Connemara classes at Killossery Lodge Stud last Sunday.

Two well-known greys who have qualified for Tuesday are the Marnane family’s versatile 11-year-old Fernville Danny gelding Danny’s Pride (who bagged a HOYS ticket at Barnadown) and Margaret Nelson’s 13-year-old Earl Of Newbridge gelding Benny Liath, winner of the younger pony championship in 2013.

Lucinda Kelly also has a ride in the five- to seven-year-old class on her mother Avril’s six-year-old I Love You Melody mare Dunran Love In The Mist. The grey is one of three home-breds in the class along with Gerry Whyte’s five-year-old Manninard Abel gelding Sleehaun Ninja and Michelle Gilligan’s Avalon Inis Slé.

The last-named, a son of Woodfield Sammy, will be ridden by French-born Lorraine Balaine who finished fourth on the six-year-old palomino stallion in an EI90 class at Hillcrest last October, on his only start under Eventing Ireland rules, and partnered him in two Dressage Ireland outings last year.

Brian Horgan’s Castlemir Queen has competed in two EI90 (P) classes this year, finishing third and seventh respectively at Kilguilkey (1) and Hillcrest (3) under the owner’s daughter Lily who will partner the seven-year-old Moorland Macdara mare on Tuesday.

There are two duns among the entries, Jane Dalrymple’s seven-year-old Cashelbay Chip mare Kinamara Laura and Shanbo Max, Emily Kelly’s five-year-old gelding by Illaunurra Cathal. Registered as a roan is Jackie Hockley’s seven-year-old Ballybaun Robuck gelding Fanad Romeo who won the four- and five-year-old flat class at Dublin in 2019.

Irish Pony Society council member Liam Ruttle has two ponies qualified, the five-year-old Rían Ór gelding Rachel’s Menlo Boy and the seven-year-old Teach Mór King gelding Teach Mór Dáire. Both will be ridden by the owner’s daughter, Carol.