THERE were only three winning scores over 70% at the Dressage Ireland North Munster Region show held at the Roscrea Equestrian Centre on Sunday, March 10th.

Paula Geiger (List 3) awarded the highest of these in the nine-runner Preliminary DI6, where her overall leaderboard was topped by Rebecca Hayes and the thoroughbred gelding Hash Brown (74.23%).

The best of three track-winning progeny out of the Sheikh Albadou mare Keralba, Hash Brown won three hurdle races and two chases when trained by Michael Hourigan. The majority of those victories came in the colours of J.P. McManus and the now 15-year-old chesnut had his last start in August 2020. Hash Brown began competing under DI rules in February 2022 and has 127 points to his credit.

Hayes and Hash Brown also competed at Novice level in the five-strong Geiger-judged BD39, where they finished third (70.58%) behind Caroline Marwood on Investigator P (71.54) and Julie Polden with Kilnoe Clover (70.77). Marwood and Hannah Rose’s 11-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding by Diamant de Semilly went on to win Geiger-judged Elementary BD59, in which there were also five starters, on 69.09.

Second there on 67.50%, Owen Smyth and his 20-year-old Hanoverian gelding Dark Site, a son of Don Frederico, saw off eight rivals to claim victory in the Elementary DI55, where Dermot Cannon (List 1) awarded them a score of 68.21.

Twelve combinations performed before Cannon in the Novice DI27A, where Charlotte Clear came out on top with her Irish Sport Horse gelding Ramesses B (69.31%), a 14-year-old Ramiro B bay, who was bred in Co Monaghan by Larry Muldoon out of the Ringo mare Wannabe G.

Anne Croome Carroll finished second on the unregistered home-bred Diamond Eclipse, with whom she topped the scores in the Cannon-judged Preliminary BD19 on 71.46%. This Traditional ISH mare by Chinook Eclipse is out of the Rantis Diamond mare Random Hilltop Diamond.

The only other really competitive class was the eight-runner Preliminary DI5A, which was judged in the short arena by Paula Geiger, whose overall leaderboard was headed by Mary Ambrose riding the Connemara gelding Close Call (65%), her 15-year-old grey by Laerkens Cascade Dawn.