THE Showgrounds in Ballinasloe were the venue for last Sunday’s Dressage Ireland Midland and Western Region show, which proved successful on three fronts for Niamh Macken, who was organiser of her first DI fixture.

She booked two top judges in Donie McNamara (List 1) and Jane Whitaker (List 2), she won both Novice classes she contested on her own Irish Draught gelding Diamond King Henry and, somehow, while it was a dull and rather misty day, she persuaded the worst of the rain to hold off until the show had concluded.

“I have to admit, I did get someone else to do the times for me, because that was freaking me out!” said Macken, who lives outside Athlone where she works in an insurance broker’s office. She is secretary of Mullingar Riding Club, so had experience of running AIRC-affiliated shows.

Macken’s first win on Sunday came in the five-runner DI27A, where she topped McNamara’s leaderboard on 69.14%, while she doubled up in the Whitaker-assessed BD39, where she saw off five rivals when achieving a score of 69.04.

Her partner, Diamond King Henry, a nine-year-old son of King Alton, is out of the Rosheen Yeats mare Wicklow Diamonds.

“I’ve owned Henry since he was a just-backed four-year-old,” Macken told the Irish Horse World. “He was kept in a field near enough to my house as a foal and I used to slow down any time I was passing to get a look at him. It turned out, he was bred by a neighbour, Mike Reynolds, who sold him and his dam to Eddie Igoe, with whom I kept my old horse.

“I was delighted to see him at Eddie’s yard and so I kept an eye on him over the years growing up and he was a real character. When he turned four and was just backed, I asked if he would be suitable for me. I’m not the bravest, but he was very quiet to do, so I bought him and haven’t looked back since.

“I decided to join Dressage Ireland two years ago and had great success last year, winning the Preliminary Category 1 at the Wild Atlantic Dressage Festival and also coming third at the Nationals where I was on the winning Midlands and Western Region team. I’ve moved up to Novice this year and it seems to be going well so far. I get lessons with Heike Holstein when I can, while Christa Dillon is my regular trainer.”

Padraig Flanagan and Qeannaire An Tanaiste won two classes at the Dressage Ireland Midland and Western Region show at Ballinasloe \ Aisling Deverell

Dual winners

Another dual winner was Padraig Flanagan, who first saw off four opponents to win the Whitaker-judged Medium BD75 on 66.08% before recording an uncontested victory in the McNamara-assessed Advanced Medium BD91 on 64.49.

In both instances, Flanagan was on board Vida Tansey’s home-bred Irish Sport Horse gelding Qeannaire An Tanaiste, an 11-year-old by Quaterback. In the Medium class, the chesnut’s closest rival was his Elaine Murphy-partnered full-sister QT An Tanaiste (65.95). The pair are out of the Don Laurie I mare, Angela m2s.

Shirley Mullins struck twice at Elementary level with her Irish Draught mare Gortfree Rebel, an 11-year-old liver chesnut by Gortfree Hero out of Moyvilla Diamond (by Huntingfield Rebel). The pair were the only starters in the McNamara-judged DI55, where they scored 68.04, while they fended off their sole rivals to win the BD59, where Whitaker awarded them a score of 64.06.

Four combinations appeared before McNamara in the Medium BD69, where his overall leaderboard was topped by Bethany Light on the Dutch Warmblood gelding Eastwood (68.48), her 15-year-old bay son of Schumacher.

The same judge awarded his winning score in the two-runner Inter I to Simone Hession riding the home-bred ID gelding Beezies Double Diamond (64.56), her well-known Gentle Diamond grey.

The two judges were closely aligned in their scores at Preliminary level. McNamara’s winner of the nine-runner DI6 was Sinead Heffernan with her Traditional ISH gelding Ballyj Casper (67.88%), a five-year-old Black Hero bay, who was bred by Fintan McGrath out of a non-winning thoroughbred mare by Pilsudski. Ellen O’Hara claimed the honours in the BD19, where Whitaker awarded her 67.92 for her test on the 15-year-old bay mare Miss Pollypockets.