THERE is little point reporting what individual owners and riders said last Saturday, as the Northern Region got the 2025 Eventing Ireland season under way at Tyrella.

In a nutshell, they were effusive in their thanks to the Northern Region for providing certainty in this strange year, to landowners John and Hannah Corbett, to Tyrella itself for being the wonderful venue it is and to Dora Beacom and her team. In addition to all the work undertaken in advance, some of that team were in situ from just after 5am on Saturday and didn’t leave until 8pm.