Show jumping: The chief protagonists for this morning's Bewley's Hotels supreme hunter championship were earmarked yesterday, with northern challengers cutting a swathe through the opposition in the outside rings.
Aaron McCusker goes into the main arena this morning double handed, having won both the heavyweight classes yesterday. His strongest claim to the supreme title comes with Rosemary Boyd's Connswater, which took the northern equivalent at Balmoral in May.
The Amiro gelding was novice champion and reserve supreme at the Royal Highland Show in Edinburgh, was champion in Omagh and went on to claim the all-Ireland ridden hunter championship in Galway last month.
Having won the four-year-old title with Connswater, McCusker got the leg-up onto his own horse, Rumours, which went on to take the older division and is favoured to win tomorrow's working hunter class. With McCusker booked for the ride on Connswater in the main arena, Clare MacMahon will be aboard the seven-year-old Rumours for today's championship judging.
Also in with two chances is Ballynahinch, Co Down, owner June Lewis, who landed wins in both the light and medium-weight classes yesterday. Kelly Troughton rode the four-year-old lightweight Lorenzo to win his division and, having stood reserve behind Connswater in Balmoral, the youngster is tipped to give the big chestnut a run for his money today.
Lorenzo is entered in June Lewis's name even though the horse has already been sold to English owners Geoff and Gill Gale, but Lewis's second winner yesterday is still in her ownership.
Fairman T, which finished second in Dublin 12 months ago as a four-year-old, has grown in stature in the interim, and his rider, Joanne Jarden, expects the medium-weight gelding to give a good account of himself in the larger expanses of the main arena.
Fairman T will be up against Wanda McIlwaine's much-beribboned Lord Of The Dance and the quality four-year-old Silken Prince, which gave Kelly Troughton her second victory of the day.
Another northern visitor expected to feature in today's championship judging is Caraid McAlpine, whose horse Kilcotty Jim is no stranger to success in Dublin. Now five, the Toravich gelding took the supreme young horse title in 2002 for then owner John Donaghy and his floating paces could well see him go all the way this morning if he can hold off the challenges from Connswater and Lorenzo.
Despite the strong northern flavour, favourites for the mare title have home addresses substantially closer to the RDS. Kieran and Mairéad Ryan's four-year-old lightweight Intuition comes from north Co Dublin, and the five-year-old Pink Mist, winner for Carol and Jane Bradbury, is stabled in Wicklow.