THE South East Region of Dressage Ireland held its first show of the year last Saturday at Spruce Lodge, where the weather was dry, crisp and bright.

Dermot Cannon (List 1) may not have judged a large number of riders, but it was good to see that three of the five entries stood their ground in the FEI Grand Prix, where his winner was Sorrell Klatzko on Rock My Heart EA (67.39%).

Home-bred by Elisabeth Ahn-Ballies at her Corradee Stud in Dorset, the 12-year-old Hanoverian gelding is by Royal Classic out of the Weltruhm mare Walentyna. The bay began his competitive career in the show jumping sphere, but then moved to the dressage arena in the spring of 2017; he arrived in Ireland last November.

Sunday marked Klatzko’s fourth public outing with Rock My Heart EA, after which she commented: “We hope to be able to compete now at some lovely CDI shows and just see where it takes us. We are definitely growing stronger together and building a very happy, positive partnership. For me, that’s the most important thing.”

Three combinations also appeared before Cannon in the Medium BD61, where Collette Ward came out on top with her Pura Raza Española gelding Jazz XI (66.03%), an eight-year-old bay by Montanes III.

Event riders

As at Marlton the previous weekend, some event riders availed of the opportunity to test themselves and their horses in dressage here at Spruce Lodge before the start of the Eventing Ireland season this day fortnight. One of these was locally-based Heidi Hamilton, who topped the scores in both Elementary classes with the unregistered Cavaliers Cruiz.

In the DI52, judged by Bernie Webb (List 3a), Hamilton and Jill Ladley’s Irish Sport Horse mare scored 69.17%, while best of the others in the 10-strong field were Rachel Dowley and GFL Nava (68.89). In the five-runner BD57, judged by Jane Whitaker (List 2), Hamilton and Cavaliers Cruiz recorded a score of 68.21, with another local rider, Isla Coad, placing second on Klein Roderijs Gold Fee (66.61).

Cavaliers Cruiz, who was bred in Co Wexford by Thomas Norris, is by Cruisings Ambassador out of Cavaliers Maid, by Ghareeb.

The seven-year-old has 39 Show Jumping Ireland points and marked her second season as an eventer with a win in the 28-runner CCI1*-Intro at the Lisgarvan House International last August, after which Hamilton commented: “I think she is a bit of a special one.”

Novice double

Another rider to record a double on Saturday was Eithne Scully, who did so at Novice level, but on two different horses.

In the eight-runner DI23, judged by David Lee (List 3), Scully topped the leaderboard on her Anglo European Studbook-registered Santana (73.55%), a six-year-old gelding by Wish Upon A Star; in the BD38, where six combinations came before Bernie Webb, she secured victory on board Rosemary Hedigan’s former eventer TM Irelands Kingdom (69.19), a 13-year-old Irish Draught gelding by Star Kingdom.

Lee also judged the 17-strong Preliminary DI8, where he awarded his highest score (67.31%) to another Co Wicklow event rider, Ned Kelly, who was on board the unregistered Fanlehane Nariah. This eight-year-old Sibon W mare was evented for the last two seasons by Kelly’s brother Matthew.

Sarah-Jane Doyle (List 5) was a lot more generous to those competing in the second Preliminary class, the BD15, where she was faced by 23 combinations.

Achieving the highest score here was Ellen Carroll, who did so on the DI newcomer, Simon (75.60%). This eight-year-old thoroughbred gelding by the deceased September Storm is out of the unraced Snob’s Supreme. That Supreme Leader mare’s first foal was Macs Joy (by Religiously), whose nine wins for the Jessica Harrington yard included eight over hurdles and four of them at Grade 1 level. He also finished second in the 2006 Champion Hurdle (Grade 1) at Cheltenham to his great rival, Brave Inca.

No entries were made for a number of classes, including those offering the FEI tests to pony riders, children on horses and juniors. The next SER show is scheduled to take place at Spruce Lodge on Bank Holiday Monday, March 18th.