TWO riders from the Model county on Irish Sport Horse geldings won the Balmoral Star of the Future championships qualifiers at Wexford Equestrian on Wednesday just past and, in both instances, the same Co Carlow-based rider finished second.

Thirty combinations from around the country appeared before Alice Copithorne and her father Philip in the five-year-old qualifier, where their very narrow winner (due to his star quality score) was Cornets Blitz (83 points), who was ridden by Paddy Byrne of BGS Sport Horses. The HHS Cornet bay was bred in Co Wexford by William Stephenson out of the Power Blade mare Moon Boots, who jumped to Grade B (174 Showjumping Ireland points) and did a small bit of eventing.