ELLEN McDonald continued her build-up towards next month’s European pony championships in Strzegom, Poland last weekend at Castle Irvine, Necarne where she and her father Jim’s Dante Alighieri were the sole starters in the pony championship.

Dermot Cannon judged the FEI pony rider team test on Saturday when he awarded the Armagh combination a score of 67.14% while 15-year-old McDonald and the 12-year-old Dutch riding pony achieved a mark of 70.54 in the individual test judged by Michael Moore on Sunday for an overall percentage score of 68.84.

Given the fact that the Pony Club season is in full swing, it wasn’t too surprising that the underage classes didn’t attract a large entry.

There were five starters in the Junior Novice championship which was won by Hollie Fitzpatrick and the traditionally bred Irish Sport Horse gelding Admirals Voyage (68.31), a 23-year-old son of Golden Cliff.

Tia Wharry saw off just one rival to win the Junior Preliminary title with the 25-year-old gelding Dalways Stormtrooper (68.30) and, likewise, Amelia Wheeler faced just one rival in the Trailblazer Junior Preliminary championship she won with the four-year-old piebald gelding Midnight Minty (70.57).

In two other Trailblazer championships, there were uncontested victories for Harriet O’Hagan and the 11-year-old 128cms black mare OOS Fairytale (66.25) in the Under 10 section and for Ellie-Mae Kerr and the 21-year-old gelding Fat Boy Slim (62.17) in the children’s Preliminary.