THOUGHT, and fundraising, will have to go into the Eventing Ireland national championships as, at present, many of the country’s professional riders appear to have problems with the date, prize money and/or the two-day format, which goes down so well with the amateurs.

This year, the championships were once again held at Kilguilkey House where, following a poor entry of qualified combinations, the classes were opened up to all. While ensuring the championships went ahead, this was something of a snub to those who had spent time and money chasing their qualifying marks.

No rider claimed more than one title, the top-graded winners being Felicity Ward on Regal Bounty (EI120), Sophie Walshe on Kinsau (EI115 (Open)), John Tilley on Grand Espoir (EI110), Kate Fahey on Lissyegan Cooley (EI110 (J)), Maeve Fleming on Kiltiernan Kitty (EI110 (P)) and Nichola Wray on Dylan aka Springhill Showman (EI110 (Amateur)).

At the lowest levels, the winners were Amy Salmon with Clonaslee Captain Hawk Wing (EI90 (Amateur)), Cathal Daniels with the newcomer KBS Sportsfield Quartz and Heidi Brabazon with Blackfort Melody, who dead-heated in the EI90, Abbey Ferris with How Ya Sammy (EI90 (P)) and Avril Rea with DSL The Explorer (EI80).

Unfortunately, there were problems at EI100 level, as a result of an error in the measurement of the track and the determined optimum time. Some riders, waiting to be called forward at the prize-giving ceremony, were very surprised to find they had been awarded ‘speeding’ time penalties and quickly objected.

Nichola Wray and Dylan AKA Springhill Showman won the EI110 (Amatuer) at the Eventing Ireland National Championships at Kilguilkey \ Horse Sport Images

With prizes already presented, the Board of EI issued a statement the following week, stating that all time penalties would be withdrawn, but that those who were announced as being winners and placed on the Sunday would remain as such, while others, who had been penalised, would have their results updated and were to receive prizes in the future.

As the mistake had been rectified by the time those in the non-restricted EI100 championship went out, Patricia Ryan remained as the winner of that title on The Outlaw, although only marginally from Cathal Daniels on Tullibards Be The One. There was no change either to the result of the EI100 (P) won by the first season pairing of Anna Radford and the former show jumper Essenar Double Dutch.

However, if one now looks at the results on the EI website from that first weekend in September, one will see that there are two winners, on different scores, of the EI100 (Amateur) championship, Samantha Dale on Threeseas (29.9 penalties) and Karen Blakely Palmer with Knocklucas Ascalon (31.5), and two winners also of the EI100 (J) championship, Hannah Groves on The Kings Ransom (27.4) and Andrew Moore with The Blue Diamond (25.8).

The second EI Grassroots Championships were staged as a standalone event at Ballindenisk over the weekend of July 13th and 14th and ,while there was a lot of positive feedback from participants, there were only 58 starters in total, while there were 95 the previous season when run in conjunction with the international at Lisgarvan.