ENTRY numbers held up well at the Irish Pony Club Festival which, following qualifiers in all nine Areas of the organisation, was held on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of this week at Barnadown.

Qualifying through Area 2, Andrew Moore (Kildare) was the recipient of the Irish Pony Club members cup, following his win in the Open/Senior Associates combined training class on Tuesday with The Blue Diamond.

Leading after dressage on the average of the combined scores of judges Susan Patterson and Anne Kirwan, 71.25%, Moore and the 11-year-old grey mare recorded one of just six clear rounds to win, ahead of Elsie Barry (Bray) and Waverley who, too, completed on their flat work mark (70.62). Moore competes on The Blue Diamond at EI100 (J) level with Eventing Ireland and at 1.10m level with Showjumping Ireland.

Caoimhe Murphy (Killinick) won the Intermediate class on her flat work score with the eight-year-old ISH mare Ballyrue Olympic Lux (70.25%). Here, the dressage winner on 71.5, Tipperary’s Ailbhe Hally riding Carnaween Jake, was penalised in the jumping phase, as were 15 others in the 27-runner class

In 2023, Hally and Carnaween Jake landed the Junior class, which this year was won by Ellie Kavanagh with the nine-year-old Connemara gelding Barravalley Maximus.

This Carlow combination completed on the dressage score (74.62%) they were awarded by Maire Quinlan Pluck and Liseanne Kearns, as did all five others in the top six of the 33-runner class. A pole down show jumping proved expensive for Beth Coveney (South Union), who was on 73.73 after the flat work phase with Coppenagh Russel.

Equieire sponsored the Festival’s combined training section, which got underway on Monday with the Novice class.

Here, the South Union Branch, and the Coveney family, had better luck, as Jessica ran out the all-the-way winner on the 20-year-old dun gelding Bishophall Joe (76.25%).

While the majority of the 29 starters completed on their Anne Kirwan-awarded flat work marks, Bena-Marie Hickey (Kildare) and Monty unfortunately had a pole down, which saw them drop from second to fifth.

The lengthy trip to Wexford for Lara Mertens (Sligo) proved rewarding, as she ran out the clear-cut winner of the Liseanne Kearns-judged Under 10s’ class on board Castleore Laura (78.08%). There were six eliminations in this 30-runner class, but only three other combinations had a problem in jumping.

Georgina Purcell (Scarteen) and the 18-year-old former Grade A Welsh mare Machno Catrin recorded the combined training section’s highest score when completing on their Ian Grace-awarded dressage mark (80.25%) in the Under 12s’ competition. Only six of the 34 starters had a problem in the jumping phase, but these included Tallula Hughes (Sligo) and Lightning McQueen, who had been lying second on 79.25, but dropped to sixth when picking up four faults.

Georgina Purcell and Machno Catrin, winners of the Under 12s Combined Training at the IPC Festival \ Laurence Dunne jumpinaction.net