IT was a busy weekend for Patrica Hoey who was appointed by Balmoral to judge the last of the four Connemara qualifiers at Killossery Lodge Stud on Saturday as well as the Draughts at Clare on Sunday.

Again, the numbers and quality weren’t as high as at the start of the qualification process but there were still some delighted owners and riders who secured the last of the tickets for Balmoral Show (May 14th to 17th) at the Glynn family’s north Co Dublin venue.

Frank Glynn built the track for the two working hunter qualifiers where Hoey’s winners were Maya von Moll, a member of the Wicklow Branch of the Irish Pony Club, on Tousist King (riders 10 to 16) and Moya Teeling with the vastly experienced Shanbo Myles (riders 16 and upwards).

A seven-year-old grey gelding by Plume de Kezeg, Tousist King was bred by John J O’Sullivan out of the Coulillaun Cushlawn mare Princess Menlo while the Noel Farrell-bred Shanbo Myles is a nine-year-old grey gelding by Shanbo Jimmy out of Morning Star Mist, by Monaghanstown Fionn.

In the ridden classes, the winners were James Smyth on the 2021 Manor Duke grey Cregduff Devlin (four and five-year-olds, riders over 12), Nicole Peoples with the eight-year-old Classiebawn Black Jack gelding Ballyhindon Boy (four-year-olds and upwards, riders 10 to 16) and another Northern Area rider in Jackson Laing who partnered the seven-year-old Newgrange Lad gelding Doon Da Vinci to victory in the class for six-year-olds and upwards (riders over 10).

No doubt all those qualified or not for Balmoral will be targeting the Dublin Horse Show qualifiers, but, as we are well aware, there are plenty of opportunities for the versatile Connemara outside the show ring such as in dressage, eventing and show jumping at many levels, including Pony Club. There are also Connemara classes at the Irish Pony Society’s Sports Pony Challenge qualifiers while Sceilig Equestrian in Co Cork is holding a Connemara Festival on Sunday, May 10th.

The ridden, and in-hand, Connemara classes are scheduled to take place in Horse Ring 1 at Balmoral Park on the morning of Thursday, May 15th with the working hunter classes, and the Clifden high performance qualifier, taking over in the afternoon.