BERNIE Foley (List 1), the new chairperson of Dressage Ireland’s judges’ committee, was one of four who assessed those forward in a large number of varied classes at CoilOg on Sunday, when the Leinster Region of Dressage Ireland held its Christmas show and autumn/winter league final.

It must be the time of year, as there were eight freestyle classes running from the Trailblazers’ walk and trot freestyle in the 20m x 40m arena, won by Elle Jordan on the 15-year-old Welsh Section A gelding Rosedale Markus (71.94%), to the Para Grade 5 Grand Prix freestyle, where Sarah Slattery Madden recorded an uncontested win on the 16-year-old German Sport Horse mare Savona (75.18).

Michael Moore (List 2A) judged all the freestyle classes and awarded his highest score of 79.17 to Georgia Cadogan following her Novice test on Stars Of Jupiter, an eight-year-old dun Irish Sport Horse mare by the Connemara stallion Glenayre Mystical Bobby out of Galathea, a non-winning thoroughbred mare by Gildoran. Moore also judged all the regular Trailblazers’ classes, where Emily Grimes achieved the highest score (70.36) for her test on Bambi in the Under 12s’ Preliminary DI5A.

Two combinations recorded doubles in the Junior section, Michaela Dunne doing so at Novice level with the ISH mare Bambi, an eight-year-old bay by Contendro, while the aforementioned Georgia Cadogan bagged an Elementary brace on the nine-year-old Veenstras Grapjas mare Klein Roderijs Gold Fee. Featured in these pages last Saturday, Maura Moore-McCune saw off two rivals in the Junior Preliminary, when posting a score of 69.42 on board the 18-year-old chesnut gelding Crofs Clover.

Storm Darragh no doubt accounted for the sizeable number of withdrawals, which resulted in the largest fields on the day being six.

An entry of 12 was reduced to just five in the first of the non-restricted Preliminary classes (DI5A), where Bernie Foley’s winner on 66.07 was Marleese Carey riding the unregistered Cloney Diamond Royale, a seven-year-old black mare by Ricardo Royale. Among the half-dozen who appeared before Jillie Rogers (List 3) in the DI6 was Kathy Charlton, who topped the overall leaderboard with the unregistered Whitewell Designer Class (72.31).

This bay gelding by Hiello, who has seven Showjumping Ireland points and was competing over coloured poles just days earlier at Cavan, finished second (75.80) in Sunday’s Foley-judged FEI four-year-old class to the Sadhbh O’Connor-ridden Valencia LS (82). Making his debut, this black gelding is by Vivino out of a De Niro dam and was purchased by O’Connor in 2023.

There were two starters in both Novice classes, Kate Hutcheson narrowly claiming the honours in the Rogers-judged DI21 with her ISH mare Ard Love (72.59), a 16-year-old daughter of Luidam. Second there on 72.07, Eloise McNeely and her 19-year-old bay mare Glenmullen Zelda won the Foley-judged DI27A on 63.62.

Rogers’s winner of the five-strong Elementary DI55 was Zara Bolger on the traditionally-bred Enoville Jade (69.29), a 15-year-old bay mare by Enoville Lad. This combination could only finish fourth in the Foley-assessed DI52 to the Andrea Colfer-partnered Haylemma Lady’s Blue Eyed Boy, a seven-year-old part-bred Welsh gelding by Enigma.