THE final of the DAFM Studbook Series takes place tomorrow at CoilÓg during the second leg of the Leinster Region’s autumn/winter league.

The Courtney Akkari-owned and ridden Bernabeo is one of six entries in the four-year-old section, while Caroline Lynch has, as expected, entered DS Bouncer 007 in the five-year-old class, where they will also face five other combinations.

Carolyn Mellor, one of the many Northern Region riders due to head south for the day, has entered Ballett’s Bellissima in the six-year-old section, where two of the seven horses listed, GFL Nova and GFL Flashdance, will be ridden for the still side-lined Rachel Dowley by Ellen Lonergan.

“I have to see my surgeon on Monday, the day after the final, and hopefully she will have good news for me,” said Dowley, who has been out of action since mid-July. “My rehab has gone better than expected thanks to former jockey Davy Russell, whose kids I coached, as he put me in touch with chartered physiotherapist Sean Deegan, who has helped enormously. Ellen is just amazing, as she is in third year studying veterinary, but still has time to help with the horses.”

All three horses entered in the seven-year-old section of the seven and eight-year-old final will be travelling down from the Northern Region, while the year older trio are more locally-based. Following her wins in all qualifying legs, Co Kildare’s Tara Hayes will be hoping to bring up a four-timer with the Irish Sport Horse mare Sandora BS, a bay daughter of Spielberg, who is owned by the rider’s mother Fiona and was bred by her father Will out of an unraced thoroughbred mare by Zagreb.

There is just one entry in the five-year-old pony class, last Saturday’s winner Máistir Ruadh, a Connemara gelding by Tra Bhain Ceileog, who is ridden for her mother Roisin by Sophie Cathcart. All four entries in the six and seven-year-old pony class are Connemaras, including the stallion Avalon Outkast, Michelle Gilligan’s 2018 cream son of Bog Mac Bobby.

The Leinster Region advertised a full range of classes for tomorrow’s show, while there is affiliated action also at Maryville Stables in Co Cork, where the South Munster Regions runs the first leg of its Childeric winter league, and at Clonshire Equestrian, where the North Munster Region are holding league and open classes.