Lt Col Freyne chairs RDS committee

LT COL Tom Freyne, commanding officer of the Army Equitation School, has been appointed the Chair of the Equestrian Committee at the Royal Dublin Society (RDS). Freyne takes over from Flor Madden who held the role for four years. Madden remains on the committee and the other members are Tiernan Gill, Barry O’Connor, Pamela Creehan, Margaret Dempsey, Gillian Kyle (Vice Chair), Dr Antonia Lehane, Richard F. McElligott, Ronan Murphy, Eve Parnell and Olga Scully.

Five-star win for Pender

KILDARE’S Mikey Pender secured Ireland’s first win at the 2024 Spruce Meadows Masters in Canada, when he guided the Marion Hughes-bred Irish Sport Horse HHS Cornetta (Cornet Obolensky x Acorado) to victory in the 1.50m ATCO Cup on Thursday. An 11-horse jump off saw Pender post a winning time of 38.11 seconds, to push home favourite Amy Millar (CAN) and Christiano into second (38.46) while Donald Whitaker (GBR), with Millfield Colette, finished third (38.69).

Pender (HHS Calais) will be part of the Irish team in the BMO Nations Cup tonight (Saturday). He will be joined by Daniel Coyle (Incredible), Denis Lynch (Vistogrand) and Cian O’Connor (Fancy De Kergane).

University students win in Switzerland

AMONG the many equestrian teams representing Ireland abroad recently was a trio from the Irish Universities Riding Clubs Association who won in Switzerland. John Carr (UCD), Kate Conlon (QUB) and Ciara Dennigan (SETU-W), who, as a team, finished fourth in dressage and won the show jumping phase, importantly topped the combined competition at the Student Riding Nations’ Cup (SRNC) held in Bern at the end of August.

Individually, Conlon, who was 11th in the combined, fared best of the Irish in dressage (seventh). In show jumping, Dennigan and Carr finished second and third, behind Poland’s Kacper Niedwiadomski, which propelled them up the individual combined standings to fourth and sixth respectively.

Longines EEF final in Warsaw

THE Underwriting Exchange Irish show jumping team will compete in the final of the Longines EEF Series on Sunday morning in Warsaw. The squad of Jenny Rankin, Seamus Hughes Kennedy, Francis Derwin, Jason Foley and Jessica Burke are in the Polish capital bidding for top honours in the series. The action will take place at 10am Irish time and will be broadcast live on Clipmyhorse.tv.

Interschools getting underway

THE TRI Equestrian Interschools season commences at Boswell Equestrian next Saturday, September 21st. Action will then move south east to Wexford and then to the Midlands. Dates are available on the Interschools website. If you’ve been a part of the Interschools circuit for the past nine years, you will already know the integral role TRI Equestrian play as the title sponsors of the Equestrian Interschools Leagues. Interschools Ireland is delighted to have them back on board once again for the 2024/2025 season. They will sponsor the open team and individual classes and the premier 110 final once again. Interschools Ireland also welcome back Equieire on board for this season as the sponsors of the novice 90 final. Jumpinaction will also be on hand at many events and Interschools Ireland is also very pleased to welcome Hopoti plus on board as sponsor of the 80cm team and 80cm classes.

Campaigner Claire Lomas dies

CLAIRE Lomas (44), a disabled campaigner who raised almost £1 million for spinal research after she was paralysed when she broke her neck, back and ribs in a horse riding accident in 2007, has died following an accident in Jordan in the Middle East. Claire competed up to four-star level (now five-star). She made headlines all over the world in 2012 when she completed the London Marathon in 17 days in a robotic walking suit, raising £220,000 for charity. She was also a motivational speaker, a qualified pilot and was made an MBE in 2017.

Amateur championships

DUE to space constraints this week, the National Amateur and Sportsmember Championships, held at Maryville Stables last weekend, will be covered in next week’s paper.