OSCAR O’Connor was presented with the Christina Mulvey Memorial Cup and a training bursary at the South East Region’s youth development squad training last Saturday which was hosted by Jillie Rogers in Ferns.

The 13-year-old Co Wexford-based international is the second recipient of the award which was originally presented by Sport Ireland chair Kieran Mulvey in memory of his late wife Christina who was a passionate dressage rider and enthusiast.

The award recognises outstanding achievement by a SER youth dressage rider and the first recipient was Carlow’s Rachel Carr who, riding Calelvador May Blossom, competed alongside O’Connor on the Irish team at last year’s European pony dressage championships in Hungary.

Trained by Anne Marie Dunphy and Judy Reynolds, Oscar is currently a member of the high-performance elite pony squad with his championship ride, Top Hero 2, and is also on the development A squad with Veenstras Grapjas.

“I am very proud to be recognised by SER Dressage with this award,” said O’Connor, a former member of his local Killinick Pony Club. “I’ve been part of the Region’s youth development pathway for the last three years and feel really lucky to be given these opportunities for training and support.”

On Sunday, O’Connor, and Carr, were in action at the Leinster Region show in Redhills where the former topped the scores in the confined pony FEI team test on Top Hero 2 (67.57), while Carr and Calelvador May Blossom fared best in the individual (72.57).