Eventing reports
Gatcombe 1 horse trials 2011
Nick Gauntlett, riding Elektron, successfully held off competition from a very strong field to win the Advanced Intermediate at the Land Rover sponsored spring Gatcombe. The pair been lying sixth after dressage on a mark of 31.9 but a clear in the show jumping, one of only a few among the 51 starters in the section, promoted them up the order and a fast cross country round secured Nick’s first major win of the new season. “We had our first run at Aldon last weekend” Nick said “and just took it quietly there but today, after doing such a nice test it was foot to the floor and, as he’s a big striding horse, we just cruised round.” With so many riders having fences down and time faults in the show jumping he added “It was a big square sort of track but I’m not sure why it caused so many problems. We have picked up the odd time fault in the past so I upped the tempo a bit today and that seem to work well.” As Nick is lying 13th on the Badminton waiting list with the Northgate Information Solution’s owned grey he is optimistic about getting in. Andrew Nicholson produced a lovely dressage test from Robin and Nicky Salmon’s Mr Cruise Control to notch up the leading score of 28.8, even though the striking grey looked very excited in the warm up area. Four faults in the show jumping set them back a little but another fast cross country round, to finish on 36.4, secured the runner up spot. Just .1pen behind came Louise Skelton on her own Partly Pickled and they had the distraction of being one of only three Intermediate competitors to complete the cross country inside the optimum time. She also finished in fourth with her young horse Whitson.
The two Open Intermediate sections were dominated by Oliver Townend. He had been well up among the leaders in section J after the first two phases riding Gorsehill Star and a cross country round which added just 2.8 time penalties, secured the win. Sam Griffiths, with Real Dancer, followed Oliver round the course but couldn’t quite match his speed so had to settle for second. Nick Gauntlett was third place on Penguin Ice.
Oliver also looked set to take OI section K when he notched up what looked like an unbeatable score of 31.4 with Val Ryan’s Imperial Master early in the day, backing this up with a good round on Jeepers Creepers to hold the top two places for some time However Adrian Little on the little grey mare, Millie Monday, one of the trio inside the time, succeeded in separating Oliver’s two rides and then late in the day Andrew Heffernan, riding Gill Shee's Showtime, finally managed to edge ahead by .1pen to deny him a double victory.
The first of the Intermediate sections was won by Vicky Tuffs on her mother Linda’s Zwings after they notched up the leading dressage mark of 27.3. Vicky bought the horse at the end of 2009 and went from BE90 to Intermediate last season. “I’ve been concentrating of dressage with him over the winter” she said “and qualified for the Winter Regional’s at Novice and Elementary. I’ve been training with Charlotte Dujardin, who is based at Carl Hester’s, and that made a big difference.” Andrew Hoy riding his wife Bettina’s Rutherglen finished second just ahead of William Fox Pitt with Avoca Alibi.
Jonelle Richards was another to make the most of a good dressage score, 24.1, on Tim Price’s Reminiscent to win section H by a clear six point margin over Izzy Taylor riding KBIS Starchaser.
Julie De Winton made the trip down from Cheshire worthwhile by winning section I on her own 10 year old Mini Miss. The horse was originally bred for racing but was considered to be too naughty and came to Julie to event as a four year old. “She’s a softy to look after” Julie explained “but when you get on she’s a real fire cracker. She lives out at night during the season and that helps” Jay Halim continued his good start to the season by finish second on Brer Fox.
An excellent day of competition was tinged with sadness by the death of Daisy Berkeley’s charismatic long time partner Spring Along and more than a few tears were shed by the large crowd of spectators for the lose of a much loved horse.
BOGEY FENCE
Only one fence on HRH The Princess Royal and Pattie Biden’s well designed cross country course caused any real problems and that was the double of corners at seven where riders found that if they didn’t have the line exactly right over the first part it was very easy to glance off the second corner. A large number of those who did manage to keep on the right side of the white flag also managed to take it with them making a very busy day for jump judge Tony Humphries.
COARSE CHAT
Louise Skelton was particularly pleased with her fast cross country rounds on Partly Pickled and Whitson as this was her first competition since having screws removed from the bone in her left leg less than two weeks before. “They were there as a result of my serious car crash 12 years ago” Louise explained “I’d not really had any problems until last year then I was in real pain especially toward the end of the season. Doctors thought they were working loose and rubbing on the saddle so it would be best to take them out. I was very worried on my first ride of the day that I’d lost the ability to go fast but once back on “Pickle” I knew I was Ok again.”