BRITISH Dressage List 1 judge Harry Payne paid a flying visit to Ireland last Sunday, having accepted an invitation to officiate at the Eastern Region show in Marlton.

Payne was busiest at Medium level, where six combinations came before him in the BD69 and three in the BD75. His highest score in the first class was awarded to Category 3 rider Iris Walshe for her test on the Dutch Warmblood gelding Leroy VZ (65.91%), her eight-year-old son of Hennessy.

Second there on 65.76%, 13-year-old Isla Coad saw off two more senior rivals to claim the BD75 with Josephine Delahoyde’s Klein Roderjis Gold Fee (66.62). Coad and the nine-year-old dun mare by Veenstra’s Grapjas, who are on the high performance squad, made their competitive debut as a combination this time last year. The young rider has two ponies to compete in other disciplines.

At Advanced Medium level, Finn O’Gara was the sole starter in the BD91, where he scored 67.82% on Karen Bennett’s KWPN-registered Jinger, a 10-year-old chesnut gelding by Negro, while on their first DI outing of the year, Lydia Dawson and Clonswords Alf (62.24), her 15-year-old chesnut gelding by Clonswords Mr Jones, comfortably saw off their sole rivals in the BD98.

Killian Gaffney and his 14-year-old Holstein gelding Coretto, a black son of Chepetto, recorded an uncontested double at Advanced level (62.03% in the BD101 and 65 in the BD102), while another Category 3 rider to score twice on the day was Sean Burgess. Riding Anita Kelly’s Dutch Warmblood gelding Imperioso W.W., Burgess first claimed the four-runner Prix St George on 66.47% before having a solo run in the Inter I (67.79) with the 11-year-old Charmeur bay.

Jenny Heffernan was the only starter in the Inter II on her own Dutch Warmblood gelding De Keizer KN (66.56%), a 16-year-old Vivaldi bay. There were two combinations forward in the Grand Prix, where Sorrell Klatzko recorded another win on Elisabeth Ahn-Ballies’s home-bred Rock My Heart EA (66.63), a 12-year-old British Warmblood gelding by Royal Classic.

Sorrell Klatzko and Rock My Heart EA won the FEI Grand Prix at Spruce Lodge \ Louise O’Brien Photography

FEI Pony Test

There were no entries for the higher-graded Junior or Children on Horses classes, but Payne did judge five FEI Pony tests with three combinations performing the team test, while two took on the individual test. In both instances, the winner, on 67.43% and 67.97% respectively, was Kate Murphy with her father Ronan’s Westphalian gelding Top Hero 2. Murphy is competing in the CDIP at Addington this weekend.

At Elementary level, Payne shared the judging duties with Dressage Ireland’s Mairin Cassidy (List 4), whose winner of the four-runner DI55 was Sonya McCormack riding Chloe Kirwan’s Irish Sport Horse mare Carrigfadda Silver Lady (71.96%), an eight-year-old grey by Rockrimmon Silver Diamond. In the match for honours in the Payne-judged BD59, John Gavin fared the better on his own ISH gelding Holywell Spark (66.72), an eight-year-old son of Cobra.

Gavin also won the Novice BD39, where 10 combinations came before Lindsey Ilona Brady (List 4). Here, his partner was the home-bred ISH gelding Holywell Contender (74.04%), a six-year-old Contendro I bay who, in addition to 122 DI points, has 13 Show Jumping Ireland points to his credit.

At the same level, there were 10 starters also in the Cassidy-judged DI27A, where Category 1 rider Kathleen Moore comfortably topped the overall leaderboard with her 13-year-old grey mare The Blue Diamond (71.55%), another who competes under SJI rules (32 points).

Preliminary

The same two judges assessed those forward in the Preliminary classes. Cassidy’s winner of the 12-strong DI6 was Samira-Lola Trimble riding her Dutch Warmblood gelding New-Cognito (72.69%), a six-year-old bay by Incognito. In the 11-strong BD19, Brady awarded her highest score (74.58) to Bee Sykes for her test with the Hanoverian gelding Con Cabalitto, a 13-year-old son of Christ.

The action in Arena 1 started with a dedicated Junior section, where two riders recorded doubles. First up, Maddison Roche and Josephine Delahoyde’s six-year-old piebald gelding Marlton Bandit, scored 73.85% in the DI6 judged by Vicky Cloney (List 6) and were the sole starters before Brady in the BD19, where they scored 63.75.

Brady judged the two Novice classes and her winner of both was Georgia Cadogan who, with the ISH mare Stars Of Jupiter, an eight-year-old dun by Glenayre Mystical Bobby, scored 73.97% in the DI27A and 67.31 in the BD39.

One of the highest scores of the day, 74.29%, was achieved in the Cassidy-judged Elementary DI55 by Rose Grimes on board the ISH mare JBF Riverfield Rebel, a 14-year-old chesnut by Ricardo Z. There were three starters in that class, but only two in the Payne-judged BD59, won by Niamh Winter on Josephine Delahoyde’s nine-year-old piebald mare Marlton Rose (67.34).

Vicky Cloney judged most of the Trailblazers’ classes and the Welcome to Dressage class, awarding her highest score of 75% to Lucy Ferris, who achieved that mark in the Preliminary on board her mother Mary’s 18-year-old grey mare Queen Cassie.