“IT’s been quite surreal and absolutely fantastic for the Belline team,” reflected a delighted Richard Ames. “And as an Englishman I probably don’t realise the prestige of what we have achieved here today.”

Of course, Ames was referring to the success of his of young event horses, who, on Thursday morning, landed both the four and five-year-old titles. With a total of five entrants qualified across the two classes, Ames held a strong hand, and it was the filly Belline Special Lady who rose to the top in the four-year-old sector.

Beautifully ridden by Caitie Slater, she had caught the eye in Wednesday’s ridden and conformation phase, and with marks clustering closely, she went into the final in sixth place. Here, international judges Sue Benson, Ruy Ronseca and Nick Gauntlett independently assessed the field for suitability and potential, while a further 10 marks were awarded for the percentage of thoroughbred blood. This accumulation saw Slater complete a whisker ahead of David Furlong riding the thoroughbred Thistletown Delboy, and also Alyssa O’Neill with DS Are You Tom.

Slater who had filled the runner-up spot 12 months ago, declared herself ‘absolutely buzzing’ while Ames explained that he spotted the Roberta Dowley-bred daughter of Pointilliste as a two-year-old. “She’s been a pleasure to own and produce and this makes all the hard work worthwhile,” he said.

Belline Special Lady also collected the prize for the best placed filly, and for breeding enthusiasts, she is out of Queen Victoria Obs (OBOS Quality) and is a sibling to the event horse Fernhill Intrigue (CCI2*).

Another to rise through the ranks was second-placed David Furlong aboard his thoroughbred gelding Thistletown Delboy. Jumping a neat clear round, and giving the Wexford-based Furlong his best result in the class to date, the Watar-sired gelding (dam by Silver Patriarch) was bred by Sean Delaney and sourced at Goresbridge. While the additional thoroughbred mark was certainly an asset for Furlong, it was less so for Alyssa O’Neill who slotted into third with Liam Lynskey’s attractive DS Are You Tom.

Picking up one of the best presentation marks on the final day, Lynskey’s home-bred grey by DS Are You With Me (Contender) clearly impressed the judges who, when the marks were totalled, eventually placed him just 0.1 ahead of fourth-placed Patrick Whelan riding Michael Widger’s smart Carraiganard Obie (by OBOS Quality).

Eye-opener

Such is the scoring system, clear rounds carry a premium, and it was good to note that all bar six of the 20 starters returned home fault-free.

One of these was the overnight leaders Emma Jackson and Rockrimmon Legacy, but running free and giving Emma an exciting ride in the main arena, the pair slipped to fifth. Also well placed from Wednesday’s session, Steven Smith TBS Callan Valley Cruise looked almost home and hosed, but with the pressure building, the grey took exception to the final question at the steeplechase fence. Another hard luck story befell Jonny Mulligan who parted company with a cheeky Colano before the start.

While much was said about the testing nature of last year’s track, the consensus was that this time around Dereck Hamilton got things spot on.

The jumping on day one was more user friendly, although the dressage arena in such a confined space is quite an ask for these babies. On reviewing the class, judge and British international event rider Nick Gauntlett commented: “It was eye-opening to see this class from the other side. I initially thought it was a huge ask, but as often happens, horses amaze me! With only one or two exceptions they coped so well with the atmosphere and the job in hand.”