THE Northern Region of Dressage Ireland held the latest of their Summer League shows last Saturday at Gransha Equestrian outside Bangor, where the judging duties were divided between Vanda Stewart (List 2) in the outdoor arena and Rosi Gomes (List 3a), who was based indoors.

Carolyn Mellor recorded a mixed double on her Westphalian mare Ballett’s Bellissima, a six-year-old brown daughter of Balletmeister. Stewart awarded the combination a score of 73.04% in the Elementary DI55, while Gomes had them on 76.55% in the Medium BD61. There were eight starters in both classes.

The same number came before Gomes in the Elementary BD45, where the overall leaderboard was headed by Joanne McSeveney on Richard Finlay’s Hanoverian mare Donna Bella (74.14%), a 14-year-old chesnut by Don Frederico out of the Wolkentanz I mare Walking Queen. Only two started in the second Medium class, the DI77 judged by Stewart, where the higher score (63.57) was recorded by Debbie Cherry riding her 20-year-old skewbald mare Mostro.

The only other competitive higher graded class was the Advanced BD102, where three combinations performed in front of Stewart, whose winner on 71.62% was Dale Roberts with the 10-year-old bay gelding Rademon Aachen (by Anteaus). There were uncontested wins for Christine McBride with her 18-year-old Anglo European Studbook-registered Calcourt Landline (62.27) in the sole Advanced Medium test and for Yvette Truesdale on Linda Telford’s Irish Sport Horse gelding Homegrown Ajax (59.41) in the Prix St George.

The day’s biggest field started in the Stewart-judged Novice BD22, where Jaclyn Brackenridge scored 73.79% with Cindy Cunningham’s 10-year-old Appaloosa gelding Comanche Arrow. Janie Cairns won the Gomes-assessed seven-runner Novice 27A with Mark Emerson’s unregistered Zambia Touch (72.07), on whom she competes at EI100 level with Eventing Ireland. The six-year-old ISH gelding by Zambia was bred by Gilbert Fletcher out of his Touchdown mare Prada Lady.

Scores over 70% won three Preliminary classes, the most competitive of which was the eight-strong BD17a, where Gomes’ overall leaderboard was topped by Alexandra Ryan with her Connemara gelding Ambition (72.59), an eight-year-old dark dun son of Drumbad Fletcher Moss. Only three combinations appeared before Stewart in the DI6, where the winner on 72.12 was Aislinn Franklin with her tall, seven-year-old bay gelding Shadowcaster.

The only competitor in the designated Junior classes was Amelia Wheeler with the six-year-old piebald gelding Midnight Minty and they scored 75.17% in the Stewart-judged Preliminary 17a and 67.59 in the Gomes-judged Novice 27a. There was also only one starter in the Gomes-judged six-year-old class and that was the Caroline Herron-owned and ridden ISH gelding Clantara Lord Louis (74). This bay by Hoek’s Ludo W was jointly bred by Herron and Lorraine Jackson out of the Gentle Diamond mare Strandhill Misty.