TEAM Torrens enjoyed success in both the horse and pony sections of this year’s Balmoral Show but here we are just going to concentrate on their domination of the open show hunter pony section which was judged by Lancashire’s Shirley Dennison in the P & O Ferries Arena on Saturday morning.

Leave It To You won the supreme title at last year’s Irish Pony Society’s summer championships at Castle Irvine, Necarne, where he was ridden by Fethard’s Katie Wyse and it was she who guided the bay to top the line-up in Saturday’s 153cms class. His stable-mate, Rosegate Valentine, had earlier won the 143cms division under Fermanagh’s Sophie Cathcart.

Also through to the championship were the first and second from the 133cms class, Áine Brennan’s 15-year-old Holyoake Czar gelding Goldengrove Sunrise and John Kelly’s Goldengrove Maydream, a 10-year-old mare by the same sire. Disappointingly for their connections, the smaller ponies were overlooked in the championship.

Carthcart was first called forward into the reserve slot with the 13-year-old Cynhinfa Crackerjack gelding Rosegate Valentine, which initiated the Team Torrens cheering. This then reached near frenzied levels when Wyse was beckoned forward to take the championship with Leave It To You, the 16-year-old Brief Encounter gelding adding this latest Balmoral success to his impressive list of victories.

Having travelled up to Balmoral on the Tuesday, Gillian Torrens and her team were glad to get back to their base at the Greenacres Stud and Equestrian Centre in Convoy, Co Donegal, late on Sunday night. They are now taking a short break from showing until next month’s Royal Highland Show followed by the Tattersalls Ireland July Show and then the Dublin Horse Show. Other targets may follow.