Huge crowd present at Ballintober hunter trials

A HUGE crowd turned out for the annual hunter trials at Ballintober, New Ross, recently. This event was hosted by the Grace family and patrons came long distances to compete.

The weather was on the chilly side but it did not deter the riders, young and not so young, from attempting to put in a good performance at the Ballintober track.

The course was looking splendid and each year the new fences are admired and are a great topic of conversation.

This track is always challenging and those who end up on the winners’ podium truly deserve to be there.

Larger numbers of ponies than previous years turned out in their classes which ran the horse classes a bit later than other years.

Nevertheless, these classes showed some great riding with very fast times at the finish line.

Pony Club riders were out in force with the Kilkenny pairing of Shauna Furlong and Aisling Dwan winning the pony pairs.

Finlay Edmundson narrowly beat Shauna Furlong in the pony singles.

Intro pairs had many riders in contention with only seconds separating the first six placings. The winners here were David and Cora O’Donnell.

This singles competition was won by Rachel O’Shea.

A stiff Novice course saw Ruth Burke and Emily Laffan win the pairs in a respectable time, but the singles title went to last year’s winner, Anna Dowley of Piltown, almost a minute faster.

A smaller number entered in the open pairs. It was a worthwhile trip from the Curragh, Co. Kildare, for William Flood and Shannon Mahon as they beat Kevin and Carmel Mackey for the top spot.

The open singles had some spectacular riders once again this year. Anna Dowley came very close but had to settle for second place behind Patrick Cullen (Blackwater), Roy Tector (Clonroche), Christine Keymer (Blackwater), Tracey O’Dwyer (St. Mullins) and Raymond Morrissey (Waterford). Well done to all the competitors.