COMBER’s David Kirkpatrick ploughed a lone furrow at this year’s Royal Highland Show, as he was the only exhibitor from Northern Ireland to show horses in the in-hand hunter/sport horse classes.

“I had a great week!” said Kirkpatrick, who brought two Irish Sport Horse geldings over to the Edinburgh showgrounds. “Redwood Phoenix, won a well-filled sport horse yearling class and went reserve champion sport horse, while Redwood Revival was second in both his two-year-old hunter and sport horse classes.”

Bred in Co Kerry by Dan Dalton, Redwood Phoenix is by Vivant van de Heffinck out of the Chacoa mare, Frisco Chacoa. The Chelis HC Z-sired Redwood Revival was bred in Co Clare by Thomas Moloney out of Huntingfield Diamond (by Huntingfield Heathcliff).

As he first produced the bay gelding in-hand, Kirkpatrick took a keen interest in the ISH gelding Cairnview Redwood Guy, who won the HOYS working hunter horse class for Newtownards owner Yvonne Pearson.

The Loughehoe Guy 10-year-old, who was bred in Co Longford by Geraldine Quinn out of Cairnview Clover Crystal (by Clover Hill), was ridden by regular partner Lesley Jones. “Lesley gave the horse a fantastic ride; he was absolutely flawless,” commented Jamie Smyth who had been watching the class.

“She was first to jump over a really challenging course and nothing else could match them.”

In the ladies’ side saddle class, which was also a HOYS qualifier, Jones and Cairnview Redwood Guy were placed third, immediately ahead of Rachel Moore on Gabriel Bell’s ISH gelding Kiltealy Grey, a Kiltealy Silver five-year-old, who was bred in Co Wexford by J.J. Bowe.