THE Gibson Equine Haylage ‘Balmoral Star of the Future’ performance horse championship finals, which were judged by Eric Smiley in the Main Arena on Friday morning, produced two clear-cut winners.

The champion five-year-old was Carol Gee’s Fernhill Count On Me who was partnered by Italian international event rider, Luca Bortolamei. The bay Irish Sport Horse gelding by Chacoa was bred in Co Limerick by Joanne Murphy Hanley out of her Aldatus Z mare, Buttercup Elm.

The Hannah Blakely-ridden six to eight-year-old champion, Lougherne Kingfisher, didn’t have to travel nearly as far as her owner/breeder, Jane Allen-Collins, is from nearby Hillsborough. This eye-catching grey ISH mare by Colestus is out of the Limmerick mare Lougherne Springs, a half-sister to the Cruising gelding Dun To A T (CCI3*).