KBIS Preliminary
After winning Friday’s Petplan Equine Area Festival Novice Restricted Championship, eventer Jade Whitelaw made it two out of two as she topped the tables in the KBIS Preliminary Championship at the NAF Five Star Winter Championships, Gloucestershire (15-19 April 2015).
Partnered by her own eight-year-old Welsh-bred Donnersohn-sired gelding, Dauphin III she scored 72.56%, narrowly beating second and third placed Paula Holden with Eberhard and Calre Bennett with BKS Brandini to the top spot (both scored 72.12%).
“It feels like a dream come true, I can’t quite believe it!” exclaimed Jade. “I knew it was a good test, he felt even better than yesterday as it felt easier. He couldn’t have done anymore – I’m so pleased with him.”
“He’s been going really well,” she added. “We had five lessons last week to be as ready as possible, concentrating on keeping me relaxed and him soft.”
Jade, who trains and keeps her horses with Jennifer Johnston, came across Dauphin when he was brought to Jennifer’s from Morgan Equine to be trained and sold, he is her first non-eventing horse. Based in Scotland, the pair made a 12-hour journey to attend the Hartpury-based championships, with a brief stop at Somerford Park.
“He travels fine but can go off his haylage when away from home and he’s quite difficult to keep weight on anyway, so he’s been getting five feeds a day to keep the condition on him – which he’s more than happy about, he loves his hard feed!”
Petplan Equine Area Festival Medium Open
Oxfordshire-based Emma Leech claimed first place in the Petplan Equine Area Festival Medium Open Championship today, posting a solid score of 69.14% with her mother, Dedi Leech’s six-year-old Sheepcote Wurlitzer-sired gelding, Warrior II.
“We had a good, steady clear round,” stated Emma, who is also in the middle of planning her wedding in four weeks. “He has recently been ill and had a virus for five weeks, so since his all clear we’ve been very slowly been bringing him back into work, staying away from the arena at home – in case of any dust – so he’s done lots of hacking and roadwork.”
“Usually, he can be wild,” she added. “But I think he felt that I really needed him today, I was really nervous”
Warrior II – aka Wilma – was the first of Dedi’s breeding programme, which she runs alongside her successful catering business, and is trained on a monthly basis by Serena Pincus with mum, Dedi acting as eyes on the ground during the week.
“We realised that we were never going to have the funds for top level horses and if we wanted one, we’d have to breed them ourselves – and now we’re in our tenth year with four brood mares!”
Petplan Equine Area Festival Novice Restricted
After two exciting rounds of close competition, the Petplan Equine Area Festival Novice Restricted Championship culminated in a win for Rebekah White on Shirley Errington’s 8-year-old gelding, Lord Robin. Rebekah took the championship with 70.65% by the smallest of margins with only 0.22 separating first and third place.
Rebekah is based in Dorset where she is head girl for grand prix dressage rider, Hannah Biggs – who also trains her. Hannah posted an emotional congratulations to her pupil on her Facebook page “I am the proudest boss/trainer ever! Although the role reversal felt a bit weird as I held her horse while she tended to the media!”
It was the combination’s first championships and an unexpected win, “we’ve never done anything like this before, we’ve only been to a few local shows before this” said Rebekah.
“We didn’t gel when first partnered together as he is quite spooky and sharp”, said Rebekah 0f the handsome, black Loxley gelding, but when paired again 18 months ago and under the knowledgeable eye of Hannah, the combination qualified confidently for the Winter Championships at Kingston Maurward Area Festival with a second place in a strong class.
Rebekah found the two-round format advantageous after a spooky start in round one, “It was good to ride the same test twice. In the first round he spooked in the trot, but was much more settled in the second test.”
“We prepared (for the Winter Championships) by going to the Keysoe U25 high profile show in March, we had a mixed result as we came first and last!” laughed Rebekah, “Keysoe was his first stay away show making him more relaxed for today’s atmosphere”. Lord Robin proved to be much more consistent this weekend however, and Rebekah hoped Lord Robin would continue his good behaviour when they compete in the Prelim Area Festival Championship today.”
Spillers Medium Open Music Freestyle
The Spillers Medium Open Freestyle is typically jam-packed with quality combinations and this year didn’t disappoint. More than ten were rewarded with over 70 percent on their score sheets, but only one could come out on top. The ones to do this, scoring 75.50% were Suzanne Lavandera and Keystone Diaggio, a tall, charismatic son of Keystone Dimaggio.
Suzanne rode nine-year-old Diaggio, a good-looking liver chestnut stallion just like his father, to produce a commanding, athletic performance.
“I’m very happy with him,” said a delighted Suzanne. “He finds all the work, including the lateral work, very easy.”
Suzanne bought Diaggio as a yearling from Christian Heinrich then sold him to Germany as a just-backed four-year-old as she thought he’d grow too tall. Suzanne always loved the horse though, and three years later, when the partnership between him and his new rider failed to gel, she bought him back.
“When he came back, he was like a prelim horse but he’s come on amazingly in the last two years,” explained Suzanne, who trains with Carl Hester. “He’s a charming horse – sweet and kind – and has learnt everything quickly. His mind is easy – he’s a worker – and the work is very natural with him. He’s hot, can be electric, but he’s not naughty – he’s lovely.”
Charles Owen Advanced Medium Open
Once again, a high-class field was forward for the Charles Owen Advanced Medium Open Championship. Alice Oppenheimer and Tantoni Sir Soccrates, fresh from a highly successful trip to Vidauban CDI, were awarded with 73.77% to seal victory in convincing style.
“I’m really pleased,” smiled Alice, who returned with ‘Socs’ from Vidauban last month unbeaten, with four small-tour triumphs. “He’s a better horse outdoors, but now he trusts me and is so established, that even if he gets worried, he’ll still perform. Horse can do weird things in there [the Hartpury Arena] but he wanted to do it – he wants to try.”
Describing ‘Socs’, an impressive eight-year-old Sir Donnerhall gelding, owned by Georgina Pole-Carew, Alice said: “He has so much ability and now he’s won internationally, we can prove he can do the job. It’s taken a while to build his confidence but he’s showing all the ability to go on to grand prix.”