KILRONAN Riding Club held its annual Summer Show last Sunday at its base, the Kilronan Equestrian Centre close to Dublin Airport, where club chairperson, and the day’s host, Helena Dawson, had, as usual, put huge amounts of time and energy into the Derby tracks.

As in much of Leinster, the weather at Kilronan was mixed. It got very dark at one stage during the RC90 Derby, which was sponsored, as was the rest of the section, by Horse First, and then the lightning and hail arrived. It only lasted about 15 minutes before passing over and the riders kept jumping away in front of judge Laura Connell.

The host club got off to the perfect start in the three-runner newcomers 60cm Derby, where Tracey Ward was the sole finisher on her 12-year-old bay gelding Drishal. Disappointingly for Ward’s two rivals, they didn’t get beyond the second fence.

Twenty-three riders contested that aforementioned 90cm Derby, which had a time allowed of 3mins 11secs for the 19-fence (21 jumping efforts) track; five recorded clear rounds, while a similar number were eliminated. Mo Chara’s Suzann McLoughlin ran out the winner when clear in 2.59.41 on her Irish Sport Horse mare Amber Ferro, a nine-year-old S Creevagh Ferro bay, on whom she competed in amateur company with Showjumping Ireland last year.

Mo Chara’s Suzann McLoughlin on Amber Ferro won the 90cm derby at the Kilronan Riding Club show \ Lennox Photography

There were 14 starters in the RC70, where there was an optimum time of 2.44; five clear rounds were recorded and one combination was eliminated. The winner was Castle Hill’s Rebecca Matthews, who posted her clear in 2.16.72 on board her eight-year-old skewbald mare Benvarden Dakota, who she also rode in the day’s dressage section.

Ard Lú’s Laura Bell McKevitt wasn’t far off the 3.11 time set in the RC80, where she stopped the clock on 3.02.72 with the 16-year-old skewbald gelding Woodside Fire Dancer. Of the 15 starters at this level, six failed to complete. All five starters got home in the 1m class, but only one did so without incurring any faults and that was Meath’s Julie-Anne Prenderville riding her ISH gelding Mr Grange Benjamin, a 19-year-old grey son of Grange Bouncer.

Dressage

There was a disappointing entry for the dressage section of the show, which was sponsored by HEC (Honest Elevator Company), the organisers surmising, in their debrief, that AIRC members no longer want to compete on grass.

Judge Maire Quinlan-Pluck’s first winner was Ard Lú’s Bernadette Bennett, who scored 66.67% in the Walk/Trot test on Rosie, a recently-purchased five-year-old mare with no recorded breeding. Kilronan’s Jane Gallagher was the only entry in the RCP1, where she achieved a score of 61.94 on her Connemara gelding Corner House Rebel, a nine-year-old Coosheen Stormboy grey, who she has well entered-up at next weekend’s AIRC Festival.

The action was a lot more competitive at RCP2 level, where Castle Hill members filled the first two places. The winner, on 69.23%, was Sarah Quinn riding MLHR Aisling, a 10-year-old skewbald gelding, while slotting into second (68.65) was Rebecca Matthews with Benbarden Dakota, an eight-year-old mare of the same hue who holds five diverse engagements at the Festival.

Visiting from the South Leinster Region, Killegar treasurer Jill Southern recorded a comfortable victory in the RC Preliminary open on board her ISH mare Ardmount Rio (70.62%), a 16-year-old bay by Vriend out of an Ard Allez Cat mare. This combination also won the RCN but, on 68.97, only narrowly from Brook Lodge’s Angela McCann and her ISH mare Bray Summer Breeze (68.79).

Cheval’s Gerry O’Byrne topped the leaderboard in the RCP3 with the Connemara gelding Doon Finn (70%), his nine-year-old grey son of Newgrange Lad. Riding his ISH gelding Holywell Contender, a home-bred Contendro six-year-old, John Gavin achieved a score of 73.86 in the RCE, where McCann and Bray Summer Breeze finished second (73.27).

Support

“We’d like to thank everyone for coming,” said Kilronan’s Louise Somers. “We are getting more and more support from outside the region and we really appreciate it. We had people from Kilkenny, Cavan and Monaghan and they seem to come back each year. We are a small club and the show is a huge undertaking, but everyone really does seem to love that course. Helena once again put her heart and soul into it and no doubt she already has some ideas for next year.”

The popular Cheval pre-Festival show takes place tomorrow, Sunday, at the club’s Jordanstown grounds, after which AIRC members will be priming themselves and their mounts for the AIRC two-day Festival in Mullingar next weekend.

Those heading to the Co Westmeath venue on the Friday should also brush up their memory skills for Grainne’s table quiz in The Pavilion Bar, which has a 9pm start time. That could go on quite late!