Trophies for Killinick riders
THE Killinick Harriers Hunt branch of the Irish Pony Club had a winning time at the All-Ireland Irish Pony Club Festival Championships held in Mullingar Equestrian Centre.
The first triumph was in the Intermediate Showjumping competition in which 27 teams battled it out for the coveted John Ledingham Trophy.
At the end of the first round there were just four teams with four faults each and the Killinick team of Frank Ronan, Alannah Lacey, Aoife Pettit and James Mernagh had it all to play for.
As they were second last to compete, they had to level for a jump-off with a Kildare team on a total of four penalties. A clear round from three riders saw this happen. Kildare Blue and Killinick Blue selected two riders from their teams to jump against the clock.
Breaths were held in tense excitement as all four riders competed with the last competitor Alannah Lacey finishing clear in a good time to give Killinick the victory.They also won the cup for outstanding horsemanship.
Victory followed again in the Open Showjumping Individual Championships. A total of 13 riders competed and Killinick member Andrea Dempsey on ‘Great Command’ had the only double clear rounds of the day to capture the Beauregard Trophy.
The Alice Mernagh Trophy for Under 12 Showjumpers was hotly contested by 31 teams from around the country. The second round concluded with seven teams on zero penalties including the Killinick team of Isabelle Barry, Taylor Peare, Edie Codd and Fay Murphy.
Isabelle and Taylor went against the clock to put their team in 6th place overall, Individually, Faye Murphy came in second position against 45 others while the team came second in the Horsemanship section.
The Junior Team of Joe Mernagh, Michael Cullen, Seren Ward and Emily Roche competed well but were not in the ribbons this year.
Day two of the festival saw eight-year old Oscar O’Connor competing in the Under 10 Combined Training in which he received a 4th rosette from a total of 38 competitors.
Taylor Peare with Lady Dawn Windsor and Isabelle Barry with Lily brought further successes for the Killinick branch with 2nd and 6th placings in the Junior Combined Training which is dressage and showjumping combined.
The Pure Dressage team of Taylor Peare, Oscar O’Connor and Naoise and Seren Ward were up against 10 other teams and brought home a 5th rosette.
The Intermediate section had Frank Ronan and Anna Mai Stafford competing aginast 24 other riders for the Cahill Trophy with Anna Mai who also competed at the RDS, coming 4th and Frank fnishing in 6th place.
The branch District Commissioner Larry O’Keeffe congratulated all the competitors on their success.