SCARVAGH stable jockey Connor McClory didn’t compete at the first two legs of the Baileys Horse Feeds Flexi Eventing league at The Meadows on Bestman Bryan but, last Saturday, clinched second place overall with Vina Buller’s home-bred gelding, who won the Treo Eile thoroughbred award.

McClory and the unraced Lauro five-year-old completed on 54 points, as did young Zara Reid with Greylands Diamond Girl but, as they picked up 15 points on Saturday, McClory and Bestman Bryan claimed the runner-up spot. Reid had been leading for three weeks with her father Gary’s 15-year-old British-bred mare but, as happened last year, she missed the final to go on a family skiing holiday.

On page 14, you can read more about Bestman Bryan, who had a busy Saturday, as McClory competed the bay in two dressage classes, placing third in both, and the jumping phases at 80cm level.

In the Janet Hall-judged Intro A, where there were 27 starters, the combination were awarded a score of 78% to finish behind 12-year-old Dromore schoolgirl Charlie Watson and her grandfather Mervyn Gibson’s eight-year-old Connemara mare, Leamore Girl (81.5) and show jumper cum Queen’s University Belfast student Jackson Laing riding Carol Murdoch’s seven-year-old Connemara gelding, Doon Da Vinci (80.3).

Vanda Stewart judged the 20-strong Pre Novice class where, on 69.8%, McClory and Bestman Bryan shared third place with Casey Webb riding Jane and Robert Huey’s six-year-old traditionally home-bred Irish Sport Horse mare, Knockaleery Mill Leat.

On a good day for Connemaras, the winner was 16-year-old Ballycastle schoolgirl Gracie Thompson-Logan riding her sister Katie’s seven-year-old Fairyhill Hawk mare, Fiddain Dash (71.3), with Freya Kennedy also breaching the 70% barrier on her mother Christine’s home-bred Clerkenwell gelding Kirktown Bob’s Song (70.8). One of the features of the league was the large number of young riders, who competed over the six legs.