THE latest qualifier for the Connolly’s Red Mills/Association of Irish Riding Clubs national dressage championships was hosted by the Midlands Region at Emerald Equestrian last Sunday.

Run in conjunction with the final of the Region’s own dressage league, the qualifier attracted 12 teams with the Meath, Mosstown, Mullingar and Tara Hill clubs being represented by two squads apiece. The judge of the 42 qualifying tests, which were performed indoors, was North Co Dublin’s Jane Whitaker (Dressage Ireland List 2).

Three teams qualified for the championships, which are scheduled to take place at the Mullingar Equestrian Centre on Sunday, September 1st, viz Tara Hill Green Goddesses (209.56), Annaharvey (208.08) and Mullingar 1 (204.77). The three-member Headfort team were narrowly beaten into fourth (204.61), the trio of Tara Hill Golden Girls finished fifth (201.87) and Meath Gold, who included one of the very few male riders at Emerald, placed sixth (201.59).

Carol Donnelly recorded the highest score for the Tara Hill Green Goddesses when winning the RCP2 on the traditionally-bred Irish Sport Horse mare Nazar Diamond (70.71%), a 16-year-old chesnut by Nazar. Liisa Rantamaki finished fifth in the RCP3 on her home-bred eight-year-old Alhebayeb gelding Bobby Cool (69.81) who,the previous day at the Flavours of Fingal Country Show, qualified for Dublin when winning the racehorse to riding horse class under Miia Ruuskanen.

Maura Walsh won the RCN with DTS First Flight (69.04%) on whom she had finished fourth in the lightweight hunter class at Newbridge House on Saturday. Earlier this month, Walsh’s eight-year-old piebald mare was reserve supreme champion at the AIRC Festival in Mullingar, having earlier won the Ring 2 championship and the coloured horse title.

The Green Goddesses’ discard score was provided by Miia Ruuskanen, who finished second in the three-runner RCM on the 14-year-old ISH gelding Happy Gilmore (63.64%). This 14-year-old Lux Z bay, who is out of the Cavalier Royale mare Petingo Cavalier, is a half-brother to the Warrenstown You 2 mare Cash Crisis who, under the name Kintara, was evented at CCI3* level by Australia’s Sammi Birch.

Qualifying slot

The second-placed Annaharvey team comprised Gina Goessling (Ardwholihane Oreo), Matilda Falkhede (Darrara Shanbeg), Shauna Hughes (Tierhogar Seve) and Maureen Dillon Bowers (Doris Rebel). The Mullingar club bagged its qualifying slot through the efforts of Christa Dillon (Blackhill Kilcoltrim), Niamh Macken (Diamond King Henry) and Gemma Dalton (Ballyfruit Christy).

Dillon and her 14-year-old ISH mare Blackhill Kilcoltrim, a tall grey daughter of Contador on whom she competes at Elementary level with Dressage Ireland, won Sunday’s RCM on a score of 67.27%. The other individual winners were Tara Hill’s Jemma King on her 14-year-old bay mare Drumbo Jessie (72.5% in the RCP1), Headfort’s Lynsey Rogers with her ISH gelding Oreo Lad (73.46 in the RCP3), a piebald 16-year-old by Castleforbes Noe, and Meath’s Caroline Lynch on her ISH mare Quora (67.07 in the RCE), an eight-year-old Golden Lariat chesnut.