Great day in Marlton Stud

LAST Saturday, Eastern Region held their final show of the summer at Marlton Stud in Co. Wicklow.

This event was the final of the Tredstep League which has been running since January of this year. Eastern Region also ran their annual Team Challenge, which was kindly sponsored by Marlton Stud.

People travelled the length and breadth of the country to attend the Eastern Region finals, seeing over 100 entries. Judging duties went to Derval Diamond, Susan Staines and Alison Mastin Moore.

The Welcome to Dressage which is a class for non-members was won by Lyn Clements on Tally Ho Cody.

Clements and Cody are well known throughout county Wicklow for their hunting abilities but the pair produced an almost foot-perfect test, clearly impressing judge, Derval Diamond, and receiving a score of 74.77%. Clements and Cody were also on the team the ‘Nifty 50’s’ in the Team Challenge who received second place. Lauren Mc Kenna on Janey Mac took second place on a score of 65.0% and third place went to Suin Harrison on Coen. The Ex Racehorse class was won by Zoe Shannon on Dodge City. This class was the brainchild of IHWT’s Sharon Power. There will be great prizes on offer for this league that will run at Eastern Region shows until December.

Once again both preliminary classes had some tough competition. The preliminary BD7 class was won by Laura Hall on Strattonstown Warrior on an impressive score of 80.45%. The pair won not only this class but also went on to receive second place in the Tredstep League and was then presented with the Young Rider training Bursary during the awards presentation. Hall and Strattonstown Warriors impressive score was definitely an influencing factor on the Team Challenge as the pair was on the winning team, ‘Team Flawless’, for the second year running.

The Category 2 section of this class went to Luke Drea on Ballylinan Black Beauty, the pair received the highest score of the day on 82.5%. Drea also won the Eventing * on Kredit Krunch on a score of 68.18%.

The preliminary DI8 class was one by Margaret McMullin on Kimble Beach on a score of 73.65%. This pair have has a very successful season and went on to win the preliminary section in the Tredstep League. McMullin was also on ‘The Tomdarraghs’ in the Team Challenge which received 5th place.

The Category 2 section of this class was won by Ian Grace on Rhaegar WV on a score of 71.73%. The pair also won the category 2 section of the novice BD24 class. Grace also took fourth place on Brocknas Orb in the Medium BD76. Grace was also a competitor on the team ‘Just for Fun’ which took 3rd place.

The novice classes also saw great entries with Aileen Murray on Ennel Bound For Glory coming out on top with a score of 77.17% in the novice BD24 class. The novice DI24 class was won by Jurgita Zelvyte on Migdolas on a score of 63.33%. Joanne Logue on Cashmir’s Hedena made their debut, winning the training intro class on a score of 75.43%. The pair was also on the winning team in the Eastern Region Team Challenge event on ‘Team Flawless’.

The elementary BD40 class was won by Fiona Doggett on Grainne III on a score of 68.54%. Avril Clinton-Forde on Grand Duchess won the elementary BD53 class on a score of 67.5%, she was also a competitor on the team ‘Just for Fun’ which took 3rd place. Themedium BD73 class went to Antonia Ward while the medium BD76 went to Megan McGrath and Romanno Frerejacques.

The Prix St Georges class was won by Josephine Delahoyde riding Lets Go on a score of 65.53%.

Marguerite McSweeney was successful in the Inter 11 riding Salancio with a score of 64.21%

The Eventing classes were very well supported with the 3* class going to Alex Lee-Simpson and Bonza Rusty May with a score of 67.69%

There was great excitement as the Tredstep League winners were presented with their prizes at the lunch break .Beautiful rugs and prizes were awarded by Mairin Cassidy who represented Tredstep on the day.

First up to collect The Preliminary category was Margaret Mc Mullin who also took this award in 2015. Fiona Lyons won the Novice section and Lisa Carneige was successful in elementary.

Barbara Delahoyde took the advanced section and Megan Neville was the junior winner.

Tredstep and Aidan Keogh have been very supportive over the last few years with sponsorship and a Tredstep league rug is a coveted item indeed.

Following the Tredstep presentation, Eastern Region awarded three training bursary’s, these awards are given annually to members who have shown a lot of dedication and potential throughout the year. The lucky winners were; Helen Taylor, Daphne Lush and Laura Hall.

A great atmosphere throughout the day and lots of checking of scores was down to the fun team competition running during the day. The Marlton Stud sponsored team competition was won by ‘Team Flawless’ which was made up of sisters Sarah and Laura Hall and their two friends Ruth Ferrie and Joanne Logue. Second place went to the ‘nifty 50’s’ which had Bernie Webb, Lyn Clements, Janet O’Bynre and Leanne Fitzgerald on their teams.

The first and second place teams received substantial cash prizes. Third place team’ Just for Fun’ was made up of Zoe Shannon, Ian Grace, Avril O’Byrne and Avril Clinton Forde. These received photography vouchers kindly sponsored by Ferrie Photography and Gym vouchers sponsored by Go Gym in Greystones. .

Many riders now have a short break before they head off to the National Dressage championships in Barnadown which is on from August 26-28.