FOUR of the five winners at the final RDS working hunter pony qualifier, held at Killossery Lodge Stud last Wednesday week, will be making their debuts in the showing section of next month’s Dublin Horse Show.

The odd one out is Jessica Murphy who, with her mother Melissa O’Connor Murphy’s Intermediate class winner, Darcy De Chanteloube, claimed last year’s championship. The Co Wexford rider and the French-bred gelding took the first step towards retaining the title, when winning their qualifier at Sceilig in late May.

Last Wednesday week, Murphy bagged herself another golden ticket, when narrowly winning the 153cm class at Killossery on the six-year-old bay gelding Highview Royal Meelin (114 points). Here, Arabella Whelehan finished second with Ruth Magee’s Irish Sport Horse gelding Blackhill Border Fox (113), a 15-year-old grey by the Connemara stallion Ballymore Paprika, while back in third on 107.5, came Joanie Walsh with the eight-year-old Irish Sport Pony mare Grantstown Rose Tatoo (107.5).

Highview Royal Meelin, who has no recorded pedigree, is owned by Portaferry’s Mary McDonnell, who revealed: “We bought Highview Royal Meelin as an unbroken four-year-old. We sent him to Jessica last winter to bring on and in this, his first season, he was novice champion working hunter pony at the Northern Ireland Festival and recently competed at the Lincolnshire Show, where he qualified for the Horse of the Year Show.

“Having now qualified for his first Dublin, he will compete there and over some good tracks in England to get him ready for HOYS in October. We are very pleased with this youngster and are looking forward to the rest of the season with him,” concluded McDonnell.

Intermediate

Loughrea’s Holly Maher recorded back-to-back victories in this inaugural RDS working hunter pony qualifying series when adding a win in the Intermediate class here to that achieved six days earlier in the 143cm class at Moira.

Her winning partner at Killossery Lodge Stud was her father Noel’s Grade A mare Boulabeha’s Little Princess, the 13-year-old grey on whom Maher set a Puissance record of 1.65m at last year’s Connemara Pony Show in Clifden.

There were just seven starters in the class, which Maher won on a total of 113 points. This score left her well clear of Elsie Barry and the Connemara gelding Castletown Lad (106), an eight-year-old grey by Templebrady Fear Bui. In turn, Barry finished four and a half points clear of Rosie Coad and the ISH mare Clarissima (101.5), a five-year-old by Clarimo, with whom she has also qualified for the equitation jumping and, as a member of the Wicklow Branch, for the Pony Club combined training competition at Dublin.