WHILE all who entered the swiftly arranged international horse trials at Ballindenisk last weekend were delighted that the Fell family had filled the void left by the cancellation of Kilguilkey House, no one could have been more pleased than Britain’s Kirsty Chabert whose sole mount, Opposition Aphrodite, had already arrived in Dublin Port on Tuesday morning.

The Team Opposition rider was due to make her debut at Danny and Michelle Dulohery’s Mallow venue (and hopes to do so later this month) but she has been a regular visitor to Ballindenisk over the years and was happy to travel further south in a bid to add to her first win there last September when Opposition Aphrodite saw off the challenge of 39 rivals in the CCI2*-S.

In last weekend’s Horse Sport Ireland CCI3*-S, Carole Somers’s 10-year-old Opposition Heracles mare faced 36 rivals, three of whom finished ahead of her in the dressage phase judged by Britain’s Tim Downes (C) and Ireland’s Marie Hennessy (B). However, as Chabert and Opposition Aphrodite remained on their flatwork score (31.4) to claim the honours, the early leaders all had problems in the jumping phases.

To be fair to Patrick Whelan, who had been on 31 after dressage with the Irish Sport Horse gelding Altitu, that Orestus seven-year-old just had a fence down show jumping and was a second over the time across the country for a total of 35.4. This left the Co Wexford combination in fourth place by close of play on Sunday as the Northern Region’s Steven Smith and the locally based Sian Coleman finished second and third respectively, on their flatwork marks, with the ISH geldings Mike Of Mourne (32.2) and Blarney Monbeg Pepper (34.1).

The dressage phase winners on 30.2, Ella Boyle and Grafenstolz Distinction picked up eight show jumping penalties later on Saturday and retired having had a run-out at the middle element of the Global Corner (10abc) on Sunday. Fellow Co Down rider Adam Haugh found himself in the lead on Saturday evening having show jumped clear with Carsonstown Cruise (30.8) but with 20 jumping penalties and the same for time across the country they dropped right down the order in the final standings.

There were two withdrawals, one before show jumping and one before cross-country, two retirements on the final leg and two eliminations. Hong Kong’s Nicole Pearson saw her cross-country round come to an end when she and Vihara du Causse parted company at the second element of the Avenue Crossing (9ab), while Co Westmeath’s Louise Kennedy and Eromenom JJ both fell coming out of the preceding Horse Sport Ireland Water (8ab).

While the 10-year-old Mr Clover gelding was fine after his tumble, Kennedy, who is studying biomedical engineering at Trinity, broke her collarbone and will be out of action for a couple of weeks at least. “It’s a bit annoying as we have a lot of youngsters at home and I’d planned on riding all summer,” said Kennedy. “However, it could be worse and I hope to be back by the end of the month.”

The Co Westmeath rider had planned on taking part in this weekend’s Irish Universities Riding Club competitions, and associated non-riding activities, at the Kilronan Equestrian Centre but, following a change of date, had to forego that opportunity as she was already committed to coaching at the Westmeath Pony Club camp.

Chabert was full of praise for Peter Fell and his team at Ballindenisk. “The ground was beautiful and Peter put on a good competition with a really good, decent cross-country track.

“I’ll probably do the four-star short with the mare at Kilguilkey later in the month,” said Chabert. “I’ve had a great start to the season which included winning the CCI4*-S at Millstreet on Classic VI before he and I finished second, on our dressage score, in the CCI5*-L at Luhmühlen. We’ve recently been nominated for the world championships at Pratoni in September which is very exciting.”