DESPITE the inclement weather, there was no risk of cancellation at Ballindenisk last weekend, where Peter Fell hosted another slick renewal.

Although the rain set in after lunch, the ground held up well under the conditions while in a much- appreciated move, every class show jumped on the sand. “Unfortunately, the ground did cut up a bit for the later classes – but that’s eventing,” said Fell afterwards. “Overall, however riders were happy and it was a very good day.”

Fell went on to explain that he is on a mission to fine tune these one-day fixtures in order to make them more user friendly to riders and to save them early starts as well as late evenings. “We are aiming to provide the best for everyone and ideally would like an entry of around 180,” he added. “This means we need only to have three dressage arenas running throughout the day, so that those in the early classes can be finished soon after lunch. This also means that riders in the later ones can begin after lunch and complete all three phases within a two or three-hour period.”

Quality entry

Staging one of only a handful of the country’s advanced classes (1.20m) as well as the ongoing legs of the HSI age series, it was good to see the event supported by a quality entry.

This was especially notable in the EI120 in which as one of three Olympians taking part, Joseph Murphy landed the spoils with Dr Sarah Hughes’ Barrichello. Running for the first time since winning at Clonmahon last month and promoted from an opening second placing, Murphy was delighted with the performance of the 14-year-old on whom he picked up the reins this season.

“He’s been with a lot of different riders, so the first thing on the agenda was to allow him to have confidence in me and now all of a sudden, he seems able to cope,” he said. “He’s a genuine individual with a lovely demeanour and we are in a good place together.”

The short-term aim will be the CCI4-L at Kilguilkey next week, and from thereon Murphy hopes that Dr Hughes will be able to travel over from her home in America later in the year to watch him in the autumn internationals.

Although all bar one of the eight starters show jumped clear, the initial order juggled slightly after the cross-country. Having added a costly 6.4 time penalties to their opening score of just 29.3, dressage leaders Sarah Ennis and Dourough Ferro Class Act slipped to third spot while, as intended, Joseph Murphy withdrew his well placed second ride Calmaro. While this benefited both the eventual runners-up Sam Watson and SAP Talisman and fourth place Ennis with Grantstown Jackson, it was of no advantage to Nicola Ennis who, as the only casualty in the class, unfortunately parted company with Out Of Print in the country.