ENTRIES are filling up ahead of this year’s North Tipperary Hunt Challenge, which takes place next Saturday, December 6th in Tullaheady, Nenagh, Co Tipperary.

The headline event on the day is the three-mile open challenge, which was won last year by Andy Shinnick on Asian Brandy - a Traditional Irish Horse by Asian Heights (TB) out of Large Brandy (ID). Shinnick was followed in close second by English rider William Fox Grant on board Iona Lad (TB).

The open course is run over natural hunt country consisting mainly of hedges, timber and drains, as well as two river crossings. The winner of the Challenge Cup will be the horse and rider to complete the course in the optimum time, carrying a minimum weight of 11st 7lb.

There are a total of five events taking place on the day for all types of horse and rider. Kicking off proceedings at 11.30am is the under 14 pony challenge, which will be followed by the under 16 pony challenge at 12 noon - both over a distance of 2.2 miles of natural north Tipperary hunt country.

The novice challenge, for over 16s, is run over the same course and distance as the ponies at 12.30pm. The open is at 1.15pm and will be followed by a team challenge at 2pm. The event is made happen all thanks to the kind permission of landowners, Tommy and Ann Elizabeth Riggs-Miller, who run a 100-cow dairy herd on the farm in Tullaheady.

Dairy farm manager and course builder Fergus O’Shea told The Irish Field that the course is in great order. “The course looks really well and we’ve a lot of work put into the fences again this year. The open challenge is a real spectacle to watch and attracts riders from all around Ireland and even Britain,” O’Shea said.

Entries can be made on The North Tipperary Foxhounds’ Its Plain Sailing Online Payments page. While the events on the day will not take place in the form of a race, there will be optimum times for each challenge.