It was a freestyle debut win for Zoe Sleigh with Christine Sleigh’s Fantastic Light in the Superflex Intermediate I Music Freestyle in front of a capacity Hartpury crowd.
Alice Peternell with Surprise, owned by Ann Wilson, had an early draw and made the most of it to take a healthy lead with a score in that all-important 70%+ zone. But then crowd favourite Matt Hicks came along to steal the lead with a fantastic 72.54% with Anne Marie Dolan and his own Talent III. It was to be a short lived time at the top as 25 year old Zoe came in for her first ever Inter I freestyle. She rose to the occasion and 72.63% was the score. It wasn’t a unanimous judges’ decision but the average score gave her the edge and ultimately the victory.
Others came into the electric arena and gave it their all with Lesley Peyton-Gilbert coming closest on Woodcroft Garuda K on 72.25%
Zoe said; “Really pleased with him tonight especially the trot work. It’s the first time I’ve ridden to music at Inter level and we only got my CD last week! I used Abigail Todd and sent her a video and from that she put something together which really suits him.
I came here not really knowing what to expect or what he’d do. He’s never been to such a big indoor venue but he dealt with the crowd brilliantly – I’m so proud of him.”
Zoe was quick to praise trainer Michael Eilberg; “He’s always been so good with this horse and knows him well.”
Runner up Matt Hicks praised Talent III; “He was brilliant tonight – really thrilled with how he went. I was tired by the time I rode him last night but tonight, I could let fly and he responded to it. I like to think of us both as a pair of diesel engines and we take a bit of warming up and stoking!”
For a pdf of results – click here.
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Debutante delights for victory
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