We have quickly dropped into a routine and although our start is earlier than the previous day we are on it. It's Ladies Day here in Dublin, so everybody has dressed up to come to the show today, and our PR photographer has her work cut out getting the best shots of the outfits for the Press Office.
My ring has transformed. Having got used to three or four sets of (large) show jumps for the whole of yesterday the main arena has taken on a completely different look for the young event horse classes. A note here about the main arena at RDS. For the majority of the year this arena is a rugby club, where Leinster play. For the horse show the in-goal areas at either end take on a different look, with two ponds and a bank at one end and two banks and a ditch at the other. This gives the course designer lots of scope for a proper cross country course for classes like these.
It's a very big arena, more like a Roman amphitheatre than a horse show ring. The grass, too. Incredible! One of our photographers was rendered speechless when he saw the colour and quality of the surface. We had to ask if it was actually real.
The event horse classes work in a similar way to the Dubarry series in the UK, except that the showing and conformation phases have been completed the previous day in one of the other rings. We start with a small event horse, before the more familiar four and five year-old classes follow.
That, and a little more Lorenzo, complete, and we are on to The Speed Derby. The Irish dominate this, with the first six places going to Irish riders. Greg Broderick again takes the spoils, this time by 0.04s!
The Anglesea Serpentine Stakes is the last class of what, for the main ring, is a very short day. This time it is Bertram Allen who is victorious, with Karen Polle from Japan in second, and Greg Broderick in third.
Food (pizza), wine, bed.
