THREE Dressage Ireland-affiliated shows were staged last Sunday, with the focus being on the Leinster Region fixture at CoilÓg, where the final of this year’s DAFM dressage autumn development series was held.
Mark Ruddock, chairman of DI and a List 1 judge with British Dressage, assessed those forward in each of the five horse classes, most of which were notable not just for some high scores, but also the margin of victory recorded by the winners over their rivals.
The highest score, 87.20%, was posted by Co Down’s Courtney Akkari and her Hanoverian gelding Bernabeo in the six-runner four-year-old final, where Josephine Delahoyde finished second on Lynn Cadogan’s Westphalian gelding, Mercury For Gold (76.80), a chesnut son of For Gold. John Gavin also breached the 70% mark to place third with Holywell Knight (70.50), his home-bred Irish Sport Horse gelding by Contendro.
Akkari also recorded an excellent score of 76.03% in the day’s Novice DI21 with Bernabeo, her tall chesnut by Benicio out of the Sir Donnerhall I mare Strawberry, rewarding her early start. “My alarm went off at 3.30am and I honestly thought to myself ‘what the heck am I doing?’ but Barney made the whole day worth it!” said Bangor-based Akkari.
“He is the most genuine and kindest four-year-old I have ever had the pleasure of owning. I will aim to get him to a couple more Northern Region shows before Christmas then, hopefully, in the New Year, the aim will be to push on to Elementary. I travelled down to CoilÓg with Jaclyn Brackenridge who, too, had a good day placing first and second in her Category 2 Elementary classes on Comanche Arrow.”
Just having to take the short drive up from The Curragh, Tara Hayes didn’t have to wake so early on Sunday prior to her appearance with two horses at the final.
Brilliant score
Hayes won the six-strong five-year-old division with her mother Fiona’s Dutch Warmblood mare O’Macy on another brilliant score of 83.20%. Caroline Lynch finished second with her ISH gelding DS Bouncer 007 (74), a grey by Moylough Bouncer, with Sonya McCormack slotting into third on board Annmarie Walsh’s ISH gelding Oakfield Jappeloup (72.4), a Rebel Mountain grey.
Tara Hayes and O'Macy at the DAFM Studbook Series final at CoilÓg \ Louise O'Brien Photography
Hayes, who is in her fourth and final year studying Biomedical Science at Maynooth University, also scored 75.19% in the day’s Preliminary DI6 on O’Macy, who is by Governor out of Infinity (by Desperado).
“We only got Macy about six weeks ago from a friend in Limerick,” revealed Hayes, who finished third in the eight-year-old class on Fiona’s ISH mare Sandora BS (72.60%). “We really bought her as a broodmare prospect but, as it was too late to cover her, we decided to try this development series with her and it proved ideal.
“Things didn’t go too well the first day out at The Meadows, but then she finished second (73%) in series at Danescroft, where she also got 69.62 in the Preliminary, before coming here. She’ll go out now and, over the next few weeks, we’ll decide what stallion to breed her to. I just don’t have the time to do her along with Sandora and Ferrero K (her Advanced horse) while studying, but I’d be 100% happy to bring her back into work sometime in the future.”
Grand Prix
Dressage Ireland’s national champions, Carolyn Mellor and VSH Gouverneur M (66.96%), recorded a narrow victory in the Ruddock-judged FEI Grand Prix, but the Dutch Warmblood gelding’s stable-companion, Ballett’s Bellissima, was a comfortable winner of the six-year-old DAFM final, having been awarded a score of 73.60.
Here, Iris Walshe finished second of seven on her brown son of In Style, Nirvana RH (67.80%), another KWPN-registered gelding, while Ellen Lonergan took third with Rachel Dowley’s GFL Flashdance (67), a Hanoverian gelding by Franziskus.
Carolyn Mellor and Ballett's Bellissima at the DAFM Studbook Series final at CoilÓg \ Louise O'Brien Photography
Ballett’s Bellissima, who won the Category 3 Elementary and Medium championships and the DI six-year-old championship at the DI national championships at Ballindenisk in September, is by Ballettmeister out of the Philipo mare Patrizia, whose previous produce include the Grand Prix performers Ellegria (by Ehrentanz) and Elton (by Ehrentusch).
Although Mellor’s VSH Sport Horses’ yard is outside Comber, she didn’t have an early start like Akkari. “Brenda Cull came with me to help out and we travelled down on Saturday night, as I wanted the horses to have access to stables on Sunday, as it was going to be a long day for them,” revealed Mellor.
“Gucci (Gouverneur M) will now travel to the Peelbergen CDI (Kronenberg) in Holland in three weeks’ time. He and Ava (Ballett’s Bellissima) will both train over the winter, with Gucci aiming for a few more CDIs in Europe in the spring and hopefully Ava will also travel to get experience and training. In the meantime, I hope to secure her flying changes for the next level.”
Joan Adrain, chairperson of the Northern Region, finished first and second in the three-runner seven-year-old final, with two Dutch Warmblood geldings. She claimed the win on board Moviestar (74.40%), a 2017 bay by Johnson out of Dilena (by Welt Hit), and slotted into second with the similarly-aged bay Mathieu (70.60), who is by Fabuleus out of Charlotte (by Waldemar).
There were just three starters also in the eight-year-old final where, on her only ride of the day, Co Wicklow’s Gilly Crawford came out on top with her ISH mare Majestic Heartbreaker (74.80%). Mentioned earlier, Iris Walshe again had to settle for the runner-up spot, this time on Leroy VZ (73.40), her Dutch-bred gelding by Hennessy.
By Womanizer, Majestic Heartbreaker, who has 278 DI points, was bred in Co Wicklow by Veronica Agnew out of the Mr Majestic mare Flojo.
Pony finals
Mark Ruddock also judged the two poorly-supported pony finals. The only rider to appear before him in the five-year-old section was Sophie Carthcart on board her mother Roisin’s Connemara gelding Máistir Ruadh (57%), a bay son of Trá Bháin Céileóg. Michelle Gilligan saw off one rival to land the six and seven-year-old final on her home-bred Connemara stallion Avalon Outkast (61.50), a cream six-year-old by Bog Mac Bobby out of the Woodfield Sammy mare Mickeys Girl.
These DAFM finals were held in conjunction with the second leg of Leinster Dressage’s autumn/winter league, the next round of which also takes place at CoilÓg on Sunday, December 8th. Also on Sunday last, the North Munster Region ran a show at Clonshire, while South Munster held the delayed first leg of their Childeric winter league at Maryville Stables.
Because of a weather alert, South Munster had to re-schedule that show from early October, when they were due to hold a leg of the DAFM autumn development series. During this past week, the region announced that they had been given the opportunity to run standalone DAFM age classes at their show in Ballindenisk on Saturday, December 14th.
There are three shows scheduled for tomorrow – at Marlton (Eastern Region), Knockagh View (Northern Region) and Roscrea (North Munster Region).