ASHBROOK kicked off the summer show season in the North Eastern region of the Association of Irish Riding Clubs with its annual Derby Day at Killossery Lodge Stud last Sunday.

A clash with the Midlands Region’s Horseware team show jumping championship qualifier took some regulars away from Ashbrook’s Pegus Horse Feed Derby jumping section which took place indoors over tracks built by Killossery’s Frank Glynn.

A strong intermediate class was won by Boyneside’s Sarah Richardson and the 17-year-old Red Square 8, a chesnut gelding by Steadying with whom she will be competing at the upcoming AIRC Festival at Stradbally after a gap of four years. On Sunday, she was pressed all the way by Cheval’s Ita Kinahan (La Perle).

Cheval also had to settle for the runner-up spot in the Inter B class where Martin O’Brien and Nutty Touch were beaten by Killossery’s Lisa Kennedy and her homebred six-year-old Loughehoe Guy gelding, Dunsoughly Nelson, but the club came to the fore when Susan Kennedy and Wilson won the Inter A division.

Good result

Ashbrook had a good result in the open class won by John Gavin and Good News Charlie and at Primary level where Louise Fellowes fared best with Highway Lady. Honours in the advanced primary class went to Mullaghmore’s Marese McCarra who powered to victory with Cecil.

TRI sponsored the prizes in the show jumping section but those on offer in the advanced intermediate class went unclaimed as all competitors were eliminated.

Only two started in the advanced open dressage but, amazingly, the pair were announced as joint winners. Cheval’s Bernie Foley, riding her 17-year-old Moon Charm gelding Killossery Buddy, shared the spoils with Copperfield’s Kevin McGuinness. The latter, vice chairman of the AIRC and chairman of Horse Sport Ireland’s dressage high performance committee, was on board Coppermine George, a 12-year-old Golden River gelding.

Coppermine George is owned by McGuinness’s wife Jane Whitaker who, riding Coppermine Belladonna, had to settle for third in the open class. Here the first two places were claimed by Ashbrook’s Michael Moore on the 15-year-old Rachelle Comet gelding Smart Decision and on Guaranteed Gold.

Top scores

Moore’s clubmates, John Gavin and Niamh Campbell, topped the scores in the young horse and primary classes respectively with Toome Ramiro Pippin and Boots. Riding Good News Charlie, Gavin finished second in the Fingal Farm Supplies Advanced Intermediate division behind Cheval’s Gerry O’Byrne and Castlekirk, an 11-year-old Market Square gelding who was previously evented by amateur rider Zoe Kavanagh.

It was a similar story for Ashbrook in the intermediate class where Helen Clarke and Out Of The Blue were beaten into second by Sarah Cassidy, a member of the Castle Hill Club, and her 16-year-old lightweight cob Woodland Badger. And likewise at advanced primary level where Eimear O’Rourke and Spoton Not Abother were the closest challengers to Castle Hill’s Ruth Clinton and her 10-year-old brown gelding Ballustree Shy Boy.

Kevin McGuinness not only competed at Killossery Lodge on Sunday but also judged the Tom Connolly & Sons working hunter division where his champion, Bright Like A Diamond, came from the inter class for intermediate riders and young horses. Owned and partnered by Boyneside’s Jane Richardson, Bright Like A Diamond is a six-year-old grey gelding by KEC Bluejay Diamond out of the Creggan Diamond mare Forest Lodge Diamond.

The reserve champion was the advanced intermediate/open class winner, Pauline Twaddell’s Grade B gelding Cavalier Cruise C, a 10-year-old by The Hawk. They represented the Killeek Club which also won the novice class for primary and advanced primary riders through Deirdre Lawler and Smokey.