TO win in Dublin as a rider, owner or breeder is the stuff of dreams. To win at Dublin as all three, well that’s the stuff of fairytales.

On Wednesday afternoon Gloria Nolan starred in her own Dublin Horse Show dream as she rode her home-bred Ardnehue Maxamillion to victory in the Connemara Performance Hunter five to seven-year-old class sponsored by Berney Brothers Saddlery.

“We have his dam, April Thunder, at home. We covered her to Burning Daylight who was standing with Heather Murphy. At the time, he was big noise and jumped up to 1.25m,” said Nolan.

“This pony is the last of the foals we bred from him. From early on I saw great potential in him, he was a beautiful foal with a great attitude and presence. I decided we would keep him on and produce him, see if we could go the full way with him as he had savage technique. I always thought he would do great things.”

The level of competition to qualify for this year’s performance classes has not been seen before with hundreds of Connemara combinations trying their luck at the four exceptionally tough and technical qualifying venues ahead of this year’s Dublin final.

Stakes remained high for the successful 16 that had the opportunity to take on the Dereck Hamilton-designed course in Ring Two on Wednesday. Initially, onlookers could have been fooled into believing it was a more inviting course than previous years with the absence of iconic fences such as the Book of Kells or the arena’s decorative stags that caused such a stir in 2022. The double bank remained, however, along with other more knockable options.

Sure enough, the pace the course required as well as a three-part combination asked questions of every single combination with the exception of Nolan and her Burning Daylight gelding. As the only pair to go clear, Nolan took a pause after the flat phase, settling the seven-year-old before they set out on course.

Slow burner

“I wanted to give the pony a little chance to think, I had a quick run through of the course in my head, we had a plan. Myself and Vitaliy (Halstyan, coach) had walked the course together and he had given me some great tips. So I had quick process of what I needed to do and for him to be listening to me and be with me,” she said.

As 13th to go, the crowd around the ring erupted in relief as they sailed over the mushroom filled oxer to finally deliver the elusive clear. “We produced him on slowly, he needed that time. Since January he has just been in flying form and every outing he went to he would just excel each time,” said Nolan.

Proving to be a versatile all-rounder, Ardnehue Maxamillion has had success across the board from the Stepping Stones eventing series to the IPS Sports Pony Challenge.

Nolan’s trainer Vitaliy Halstyan said he was incredibly proud of her. “I’ve known this pony since he was a breaker so to have been involved from the beginning and see the work that has gone into him to this point, it’s just an incredible achievement,” she said.

Best of the rest

Finishing the best of the four-faulters was PJ Hegarty’s Rosedale Casper ridden by Nikki Murphy. Jumping around with flare, the Turloughrevagh Star stallion was clear to the last.

Bred by Alaoise Halpin out of Barna Lass, this grey seven-year-old also participated in Wednesday evening’s Connemara Pony stallion parade.

Peter Lawlor’s six-year-old stallion I Love You Jazz (I Love You Melody x Cashelane Chloe) finished third with Alicia Devlin Byrne on board.

Kinamara Lady Destiny (Fear Beag Buí x Millicent Destiny) was both the highest placed mare and five-year-old coming in fourth with Caoimhe Eivers. Owned by Tara Musgrave and bred by Michael J Burke, they had the highest scores from the flat phase and with two years left to participate in this class the mare is one to watch for the future.

Judges Kurt Carstensen and Phillip Hilton’s comments were positive when queried by commentator Chris Ryan. “The future looks good with many of today’s ponies being a good stamp of a sports pony. These ponies have to wear many different hats if they want to event in the future and we saw that here today,” they said.

And what of the future of this Nolan’s winner? “He’ll be for sale, producing ponies is my business and he will be advertised,” she said. “We have a great bunch of young ponies at home that we are kicking off with again and hopefully there’s another few superstars in that bunch.”

‘Crazy’ win

In the Connemara Performance Hunter eight to 15-year-old class Anna Nangle proved age is just a number as she took on some of the country’s most seasoned competitors to win the class sponsored by Berney Brothers Saddlery.

The 15-year-old rider cruised around the course that posed problematic questions for the majority of the 16 other combinations to claim the coveted victory aboard Fiona Nangle’s 13-year-old Liscannor Tulira. “We got him in February,” explained Anna of her relatively new partnership with the Tulira Robuck gelding.

“It’s been a goal of mine to do the Performance at Dublin, but this is just mad, it’s crazy.” Bred by Thomas O’Connor out of Liscannor Lass, despite the pair’s short time together they have already had several high-profile successes including a win at Kilguilkey International in the CCI2* in July. An exemplary show piece put them in good stead as they set off over the 12-part jumping course. The same challenges presented for the older age pony class as they did on course during the earlier class. The foot bridge filler at fence eight continued to see combinations collect faults.

The first to cross the finish clear was Ciara Dennigan aboard Lucinda Kelly’s Duran Love in The Mist (I Love You Melody x Dunran Button Moon). The grey mare’s carefulness was rewarded with a fifth-place finish. Despite a pole down for Liz Power’s Kilshanny Robert, the Cashelbay Prince gelding out of Garvagh Countess would benefit from Diarmuid Ryan’s experience to finish in reserve.

Glencroft Go For Gold (I Love You Melody x Grey Rock Trish), owned by Clive Swindell and bred by Niall O’Neill, was last to go and jumped the third and final clear of the afternoon’s competition with Rebecca Scott in the saddle. Eliza-Jane Queally and Rachel Brew’s Carraun Ferdy (Martan Phaidin Mhoir x Carraun Sacha) would complete the top five being awarded fourth with the Niamh Howley- bred grey gelding.

Long standing class sponsor Tom Berney spoke with Chris Ryan on the saddlery’s involvement in the class after the winning presentation.

“The Connemaras bring some colour to the ring and I am always so impressed by their athleticism as they go in and compete over a course that the draughts have just jumped.”

Anna Nangle still has an entire career ahead of her and demonstrated the caliber of rider coming through from the Irish pony circuit. Asked what’s next for the pair she explained of their plans to travel with Tiggy’s Trust to Scotland to compete at Blair Castle later this month.

As the Connemara Pony Breeders’ Society celebrate one hundred years since its formation, the future of the breed is in safe hands!