THE bad weather of the previous weekend was a distant memory last Saturday as competitors once again descended in their droves on The Meadows Equestrian Centre for round three of the Baileys Horse Feeds flexi-eventing series.

There was a three-way divide to the Intro dressage phase with Coreen Abernethy judging both Sections A and B. Naturally enough, her lengthy stint in Arena 1 commenced with Section A where she awarded her highest score of 70.5% to Ballyclare’s Laura McKillan riding Celia O’Neill’s Irish Sport Horse gelding Caltra Lancini.

Bred in Co Sligo by Seamus Cawley, the winning 12-year-old bay is by the Dutch Warmblood stallion Lancelot. He is out of the Colin Diamond mare Caltra Jessie, dam also of the Castlelawn Galloway gelding Caltra Western Boy (CSI4*) and the Sligo Candy Boy gelding Caltra Western Dream (CCI3*-S). Caltra Lancini (aka Cal) competed in two Eventing Ireland one-days as a young horse and the plan is for him to return to eventing this upcoming season.

Nikki Cullen finished just half a point adrift in second on her 11-year-old Rineen Clover mare Gemstone Ruby (70).

Sixth there with Roughan Sunny (67.3), Freya Kennedy topped Abernethy’s marks in Section B on Roughan Balou (73%) ahead of Elaine O’Connor riding her husband David’s ISH gelding Tullymurry Vegas (71.8), a five-year-old King Of Mourne grey.

Disappointingly, there are no breeding details recorded for the Patrick McAvoy-bred Roughan Balou, a nine-year-old who made his EI debut last season. The chesnut competed seven times, completing on his dressage score to finish eighth of 27 in a competitive EI100 at Loughanmore in early August.

Bethany Smith riding King, winners of the PreNovice B Dressage at the Baileys Horse Feeds Flexi eventing qualifier at The Meadows \ Tori O'Connor Photography

Competitive

The judging duties in Section C fell to Penny Sangster whose winner was 13-year-old Amelia Wheeler with her mother Lisa’s Midnight Minty (73.8%), a combination that also struck on week one. A five-year-old, Midnight Minty is said to be a Connemara/traditional Irish cob cross piebald gelding. The runner-up slot was filled by Oonagh MacOscar from Moy riding the 2018 Ard Grandpa gelding Russell (72), a combination trained by Trevor Smith.

Sangster also judged Section A of the Pre-Novice dressage phase and again it was one of the younger riders, 18-year-old Kaiti McCann, who topped her leaderboard with ‘Cookie’, her father Martin’s 14-year-old skewbald officially known as Boyher Cookies N Creme (76.5%).

This combination had a disappointing end to their 2022 EI campaign having lost their form in the show jumping phase. However, earlier in the season they enjoyed a win and numerous placings at EI100 (J) level, their victory coming at Tyrella (4) in April.

There was a tie for second place here on 74.3 between Sue Stevenson on the 11-year-old Floriscount gelding Elpaso Rising Storm and Hannah Thompson with the traditionally-bred Jameela Charm, a 13-year-old mare by Loughry Lad.

Twenty-four combinations came before Janet Hall in Section B but only one broke through the 70% barrier, Bethany Smith and the 18-year-old HHS BR Charlton gelding Ice King (74.3) who were doubling up on their victory seven days previously.

Here, Laura McKillan placed second with Hayley Cunningham’s ISH gelding Embarcadero (69.8). This 16-year-old Chacoa bay, who is well-known on the working hunter circuit, was ridden at Intermediate level at last season’s Pony Club dressage championships by the owner’s son Patrick.

Hagan triumphs

Hall awarded two scores over 70% in the eight-strong Novice class which developed into a battle of generations. Senior rider Denis Curie claimed the spoils on his multiple flexi-eventing champion, Arodstown Aramis (75.3), a 2005 ISH gelding by Shannondale Sarco St Ghyvan, while 12-year-old Kitty Cullen had to settle for second with Coppenagh Spring Sparrow (73.3).

That 14-year-old grey gelding and his young rider won three of their five starts at EI100 (P) level last season before seeing out the campaign when finishing seventh of 98 in a section of the CCI1*-Intro at Blair Castle in late August.

Currie and Arodstown Aramis, who won three times, finished second twice and third once in their seven outings at EI110 level in 2022, also competed in three-runner, Hall-judged Intermediate class on Saturday but had to settle for second on 73.2%. Doubling up on their win in round two were Suzanne Hagan and her much-admired OBOS Take One (76.6), an 11-year-old ISH gelding by OBOS Quality 004.