THOSE fortunate enough to have secured a golden ticket to the RDS Dublin Horse Show are dreaming of making it onto the hallowed turf of the Main Arena for the finals and the Ballinroe Premier and Boomerang.ie Starfinder fixture in Barnadown, Co Wexford, offered a rare opportunity to school on one of the finest grass arenas in the country.

Those who show jumped in their youth, may recall competing in local county shows in undulating fields, avoiding the cow pats and muddy patches, jumping over glorified tree trunks that could withstand a solid thump. The sport nowadays is entirely different, with light materials, the dreaded yellow cups, technical tracks and artificial surfaces.

Barnadown offered the best of both worlds, with challenging tracks designed by John Doyle on the immaculate Irish Horse Board Grass Arena, entirely devoid of cow pats, humps and hollows, but yellow cups were out in force and caused plenty of problems!

For the COH/JU 1.10m/1.20m Ballinroe Premier, action kicked off at 8.30am in the Plusvital Arena. The Widger family continued an excellent season with strong results across all categories, this time with Colm taking the win in a closely fought class on his aunt, Caroline’s, Grantstown Charmer, a 19-year-old ‘great old soldier’, who will be bringing her fifth Widger to Ballsbridge next week. Less than half a second behind were Robbie Sheehan and Ahare Olympic Flemmencio. Philippa Halliwell and Cosima rounded out the top three less than a second adrift.

Starfinder

The Boomerang.ie Starfinder Six/Seven-year-old 148 class saw a win for Finbarr Hanafin riding Cqs Russell Foley. Sam Widger was just over one-hundredth of a second behind in second place with Grantstown Dazzle, while Mark Neilan and another Grantstown pony, Grantstown Hannah Banana, also sourced from Caroline Widger, picked up third in another closely fought class, where less than a second covered the top three.

The Plusvital Arena also played host to the Bob Sweeney Future Champions Series and first up was the 138 1m, where Kieran O’Neill and Fozzie took the win by a margin of just six-hundredths of a second. Annie Boland and Madame Cello won the 148 1.10m. Meanwhile, the 128 U10 85cm Future Champions was held in the Childeric Arena and Gracie Kelly came out on top with six-year-old Belgrove Beauty, while Lucy Kent and Hollycreek Oran Splendour won the 128 90cm equivalent.

The U10 90cm Ballinroe Premier kicked off action in the Irish Horse Board Grass Arena. Just eight combinations made it through to the jump-off, where Caitie McEvoy from Co Down and Dutch Lady came out on top, taking their third win of the season and moving into a narrow lead in the series from second placed Daniel McKeon-Devaney and Pillheath Camellia; Georgia Foley and Manordeilo Cardinal’s Dream rounded out the top three.

Caitie McEvoy (U) and Dutch Lady (NL), winners of the Ballinroe Pony Premier Under 10 128 90cm class at Barnadown \ Laurence Dunne jumpinaction.net

The 128 1.05m Premier saw the 25% rule come into play, as just six of the 29 starters produced a first-round clear. Chloe Clarke continued her recent run of good form, when taking the win with Uquam d’Emery and taking the lead in the series in the process. Lily Lennon and Penchwintan Glynle picked up second place less than half a second behind, with Michael Barry and home-produced seven-year-old skewbald, Killorglan Boy, who was originally bought as a companion to a thoroughbred mare, finishing third in a class where the top four were covered by less than a second.

Delighted

Sponsors Susan and Patrick Keane were delighted to see daughter Lucia take her first win in the 138 1.15m series with Alto De Fougnard, after a consistent run of placings. Afterwards, Susan said: “This was their first major win together and we are very lucky to have found such a lovely pony”. Ronan Glivarry and Melview More Clover were less than half a second behind in yet another closely fought jump-off, while Zoe Mellett picked up third with the talented Fredaine De Blonde.

The 148 1.30m Premier saw nine combinations progress to a difficult jump-off that offered lots of options on turns that were falling away from the rider. Charlotte McCracken and Cwmello Champagne Charlie took their first win of the series from Annie Boland and K-Little Hero, who continued their good run of form. Charlie Flynn and HK Zena picked up third, moving them into the overall lead in the series.

With all categories, finely balanced, it will be all to play for at the National Pony Championships in Mullingar at the end of August.