A VERY cold and windy but thankfully dry day welcomed Riding Club competitors to the Cloncaw Equestrian Centre outside Glaslough last Sunday as Border Counties hosted the third leg of the North Eastern Region/Equipet show jumping league.
The expected good support from neighbouring clubs Castle Leslie and Mullaghmore materialised while the organisers – and judge Mary McAllister – were also pleased to see competitors representing Cheval, Drynam, Castle Hill, Dundalk, Fingal, Boyneside and Killossery. Border Counties members worked hard to ensure the day ran smoothly.
The addition of height classes to the league schedule this season continues to attract numbers and has proven very beneficial to riders throughout the grades. This proved especially so on Sunday at primary level as seven of the nine starters subsequently jumped clear in their graded class. Nearest to the optimum time was Drynam’s Cathy Sayers on her 13-year-old brown mare Lady Igraine.
It seems nothing can be held at the Bellew family’s Co Monaghan centre unless Cloncaw Smartie is involved and the 21-year-old chesnut gelding made two appearances at this level, finishing second under Nina Stronge and fourth in the hands of Aurelija Sadzeviciute, who was competing at her first show. Splitting the Border Counties pair was Cheval’s Teresa Ward riding Ozzie.
The host club also had to settle for the runners-up spot in the advanced primary division where club treasurer Seamus McKenna, on the 12-year-old Colin Diamond gelding Colin Clover, was just pipped by Dundalk’s Orla Moriarty with the 20-year-old chesnut gelding Roll Of Thunder. Castle Hill’s Catriona Kavanagh slotted into third on Tiromin Banner Lad.
For the second week running, Castle Leslie’s Sheena Kerr won the intermediate class with her nine-year-old bay gelding Pegasus, on whom she also finished fifth in the national eventing championships last September. The pair have a good stranglehold on the league at the midway stage having finished third in the first leg at Broadmeadows.
Placing second at this level was Mullaghmore treasure Peadar Sherry and his 11-year-old Apache Warrior gelding Bob The Warrior, with James Tiffin of the Boyneside club finishing third on Coolrock Cruising Star, a locally-bred five-year-old mare by Ringfort Cruise.
Although he missed the opening leg of the series at Broadmeadows, Border Counties’ Aaron Evans is in a commanding position in the advanced intermediate league as the 19-year-old, who joined the club last year, added a win in Sunday’s finale to that a week earlier in Killossery.
SUCCESS
A first year apprentice with the ESB, Evans was once again on board Killmarley Sunny Jim, with whom he has had a lot of success as a member of Monaghan Pony Club. The homebred 10-year-old is by Hello Oscar and out of Hazel Kilmoyler, who has no recorded breeding. The Evans family are also competing Killmarley Sunny Jim’s five-year-old half-sister Arkanrose (by Arkan).
The consistent pairing of Killossery’s Jacqui Boland her and 11-year-old skewbald gelding Maverick Na Ri finished a close second, just ahead of Sara Davis, secretary of Castle Leslie, and the 17-year-old Railway Bar.
Tomorrow, the Mullaghmore and Castle Leslie clubs are combining to host the fourth leg of the league at Kernans Equestrian Centre in Crossmaglen with the final taking place at Castle Leslie back in Glaslough on Sunday next, February 26th.