West do well at Masters Series Final

On Sunday September 14th several horses & riders from the Region travelled to Mullingar Equestrian Centre for the Equest Pramox and Hit-Air sponsored Masters Series final. The day got off to a great start with four riders from th region in the ribbons in the first class of the day, the Intermediate Welcome Stakes, Benbulben RC dominated the class with Avril Burke on Rookery Apache taking 1st place, Gavin Keenan on Ardgaineen Waltzer in 2nd & Rachel Burke on Rookery Blue in 3rd while Caoilinn DeBairead of Corrib RC was 6th with Cavalier Kim.

In the second class of the day the Advanced Intermediate Welcome Stakes, Cormac Mc Cormack of Leterkenny RC was 6th on board Lenamore Santa Fea, while in the Open & Advanced Open Welcome Stakes Lizzie Naughton from Round Tower RC was 4th with Currower Girl.

In the Intermediate Table C Speed the Burke sisters from Benbulben RC were again in the ribbons, Rachel was 2nd on board Rookery Blue while Avril was 3rd on Rookery Apache. In the Advanced Intermediate Table C Speed Patricia Warren & Hes A Dandy from Donegal Gaeltacht RC finished 6th and in the Open & Advanced Open Table C Speed the McDonald sisters from Benbulben RC took yet more ribbons back to the west, Vanessa took 1st place on Vanessas Pride while Deirdre was 3rd on Nisqually De May.

Competition between the Burke sisters was fierce as they headed into the Intermediate Grand Prix with Avril holding a two point lead over Rachel on the leading rider league table. Rachel unfortunately didn’t make it into the jump-off in the Grand Prix, which left the door wide open for Avril who took full advantage and put in a foot perfect round with Rookery Apache to win the class while club mate Gavin Keenan on Ardgaineen Waltzer finished 3rd. Unfortunately none of the riders from the region made it into the ribbons in the Advanced Intermediate Grand Prix, but in the Open & Advanced Open Grand Prix the McDonald sisters both collected ribbons for Benbulben RC, Deirdre was 2nd with Nisqually De May and Vanessa was 6th with Vanessas Pride.

Avril Burkes win in the Intermediate Grand Prix seen her secure her place at the top of the Intermediate Leading Rider leader board with a total of 69 points, Rachel Burke & Rachel Lawson of Clonshire RC both finished on 56 points, but as Lawson finished higher in the Grand Prix she took 2nd place & Rachel Burke was 3rd while Gavin Keenan was 5th with 45 points.

In the Open & Advanced Open Leading Rider both the McDonald sisters finished on 23 points, but as Deirdre placed higher in the Grand Prix she took 4th spot while Vanessa was 5th.

Avril Burke was also the overall leading rider on the day which seen her win a Hit-Air safety vest worth approximately €450.