EVENT riders bound for the international fixture at Ballindenisk in seven days’ time could not have been more pleased with the tracks that faced them at Lisgarvan last weekend.

Much to their appreciation, Clive Corrigan and his team had bravely built and designed up to height, strong courses, especially in the EI115 and EI110 sectors. “I can’t thank Clive Corrigan enough – this will put us spot on for next week,” commented Olympic-listed Sam Watson, while fellow squad rider Esib Power agreed. “Today has been hugely beneficial, both for my horses and myself,” she stated. “The standard is as it should be, with well-built up-to-height fences from fence one. This is the level they built to in England, and it was a proper intermediate.”

Run over two days, the fixture attracted capacity entries, and while the weather was decidedly chilly, the ground was good in all areas and horses finished well.

Sunday

Sunday’s action was highlighted by the open EI115 class which, featuring a number of top-level combinations, fell to Michael McNally and the consistent Eclipto. Looking very smooth in all three phases, and especially crossing country, the 10-year-old led from flag fall to complete on his opening score of 27.3.

Eclipto’s career record across country is unblemished, and he now looks a strong contender for the feature CCI4*-L at Ballindenisk next week. “He’s so fast in his brain and on his feet, and he has a real desire to do the job – he just scans for the fences,” said McNally.

Sharing second spot on the flat, Camilla Speirs and Lukas were poised to challenge, but opting to take things quietly in the country, they opened the door for Gerald Bloomer with the Caroline Bjoerk-owned and bred DSL The Entertainer. Another improving partnership, Bloomer filled second place from Elizabeth Hayden who had a great spin with DSL The Professor in third.

The tricky offset hedges (8ab) and the corners (12) proved problematic for three runners, while Melanie Young (Sorbet) having produced a super dressage mark of 28.2 unfortunately walked home after fence five. There were numerous further classy performances, notably from fourth placed Louise Bloomer (Shannondale Icarus), Sam Watson (Tullabeg Flamenco) in fifth and Zara Nelson (OLS King Aragon) sixth.

Influential cross-country

The cross-country wielded even more influence in the following restricted class, in which 25 runners went to post. From these starters, just one pairing completed on their dressage mark (18.6), and this honour went to Esib Power aboard Emma McNamara’s Greenfort Gorgeous George.

“This horse is one of my proudest pieces of work,” commented Power. “The improvement in him is phenomenal.” Like many of the runners, the short format three-star at Ballindenisk is next on the cards for this son of Kings Master, while the longer trip is pencilled in for Millstreet in May.

It was another good day for Ian Cassells, who piloted Master Point and Kellys Quality into second and third positions. The former, by Pointilliste, added four jumping penalties to his good flat work mark of 20.0, while Kellys Quality, who had led the dressage on a noteworthy 14.6 also faulted in the show jumping.

For these less experienced campaigners, the cross country proved a real test. Half of those who started ran into problems of some sort, and while the difficulties were spread around the track, most occurred either at the skinny combination exiting the first water or at the hedges two fences later.