PATRICK Curran’s Glencarrig Douvan, who was crowned champion ridden Connemara at the 2023 Dublin Horse Show, is expected to defend his title in Ring 2 next Thursday afternoon when he will once again be ridden by Grace Maxwell Murphy.

We know the six-year-old Glencarrig Knight grey hasn’t been resting on his laurels since last August but, as with all others in the stallion class, he can just be entered and rock up to Dublin unlike those in the other three classes whose connections have to go to the time and expense of qualifying.

Among those who did so for the six-year-old and upwards class for young riders was last year’s reserve champion, the 2017 Coolin America gelding Caherpuca Chappy who will be ridden by Amira Curran for her father Daryl as he was when winning this class last year. This Co Kildare combination qualified at Tullylish as did the 11-year-old Glencarrig Prince gelding The General who finished second at Dublin 12 months ago under owner Emily Widger’s daughter Hannah Mackey.

Ridden by his owner when winning the four and five-year-old class here last year, the 2018 Glencarrig Joe gelding Lough Derg Star qualified at Tullylish for the older pony, older rider class under Ciara Mullen.

William McMahon and Katie Wyse qualified for the same class at Forth Mountain on Glencarrig Princess Ella and Clareville Codiac respectively, while Sophie Donnell will be hoping to improve on her fourth-place finish last year on Lusmagh Echo who qualified at Scarteen.

Young ponies

Breeders and producers will be most interested in the results of the four and five-year-old class which will be the first in the section to come under the scrutiny of British judges Victoria Clark and Julie Templeton.

Grace Maxwell Murphy’s trip to Forth Mountain paid off as she has once again qualified with her 2019 Glencarrig Knight gelding Glencarrig Kingman who finished second last August. Immediately behind the Co Galway combination that day was the Co Down pairing of Lesley Jones and Emily McGowan’s 2019 Lightening Star gelding Derrylackey Playboy who bagged their qualifying ticket a lot closer to home at Tullylish.

Two four-year-olds qualified at both Tullylish and Forth Mountain, just one did so at Scarteen while four of the five qualifiers at Rincoola were foaled in 2020. Those at the first three qualifiers were all geldings, while two of the four who bagged their tickets at Rincoola were mares.