Mid-Antrim Hunt prepare for historic appearance at Dublin Horse Show

The Mid Antrim Hunt are delighted to confirm that their team has gained a place to compete at the Dublin Horse Show Inter Hunt Chase competition this year.
Mid Antrim Inter Hunt Chase Team at Loughanmore.Mid Antrim Inter Hunt Chase Team at Loughanmore.
Mid Antrim Inter Hunt Chase Team at Loughanmore.

This is no mean achievement as there are very few places available and it is many years since the Mid Antrims or indeed any Northern teams have been represented there.

The Mid Antrim team has clocked up a huge number of miles, travelling all over Ireland even as far as Wexford (twice) and Laois to compete in the Dublin Qualifying league, as there are so very few Inter Hunt Chase Dublin Qualifier competitions in the North.

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In spite of the sterling efforts of course builder Noel Fitzpatrick, there were only two of these events in the North this year, at Balmoral Show and a Mid Antrim Hunt event run at Loughanmore by kind permission of Wilson Dennison. Both these events were sponsored and supported by Wilsons Auctions.

This has meant that the Mid Antrim team has had to go South almost every weekend to stand a chance of qualifying against the Southern teams who are extremely professional and keep strings of horses for the sole purpose of Inter Hunt Chasing.

The team came 6th in the league which qualified them for the ballot and they should be congratulated on winning the most consistently Best Turned Out team award. Fiona Magill also won a crystal rose bowl awarded to the most entertaining rider.

The top 3 teams in the league, The Kildares, Killinicks and Westmeaths automatically gained a place in the final and the next 4 places were balloted for, with one place kept for a visiting team from G.B. When the popular Mid Antrim team’s name was drawn out of the ballot it raised a huge cheer from the other teams who are aware of the great efforts the Northern team has made to get to Dublin.

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The team are very grateful for the kindness and hospitality shown by their hosts and the league organiser John Rowley on their Southern visits.

In addition to the experience gained at the competitions the Mid Antrim team has also been constantly practising at Andy Hamilton’s farm, in particular trying to polish up their handovers of the hunting crop which has to be done at a flat out gallop full tilt, head on at each other, in order to stand any chance of competing with the brilliant Southern teams.

Andy Hamilton and David McLaughlin have given up a great deal of their time coaching, encouraging and generally providing the impetus to the team.

The team includes Beverley Caves on Richard Cowan’s lovely big chestnut horse Inspire Me which has been very successfully evented by Beverley and is also a first class hunter.

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Also in the team is Orla McLaughlin who has a lot of inter-hunt chasing experience under her belt with her great little thoroughbred hunter, Flynn. Fiona Magill on Merrin has been going extremely well as has Jamie Sloan on Callie, a very nippy chestnut which looks tailor-made for this game.

The draw has already been done and the Mid Antrims will compete in the first round against the Meath Hunt.

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