Showjumping
26-28 July
New Forest, Pyecombe and more
NIGEL COUPE may have only lightly targeted the county show circuit this year, but his strike on the New Forest was a precision one as he headed both the International Stairway and International Trial.
It was John O’Halloran’s chestnut mare Jubilee III who topped both line-ups, clearly thriving in this ring where she also headed the trial last year.
Following just two first round clears in this revival, it was Nigel and Jessie Drea (Mullaghdrin Touch The Stars) who were left fighting it out in the deciding round.
Both collected four faults but Nigel laid down the fastest time with the 12-year-old warmblood, whose prior credentials against the clock include 2015’s Vinopolis Speed Horse of the Year title.
“It’s a lot easier when they’re naturally quick and you don’t have to force them,” said
Nigel. “She’s a little bit highly strung but she tries and she’s careful, which are the attributes you need.”
Jessie was adding to a run of successful county outings this year with the 11-year-old Irish sport horse stallion, who is a full brother to her previous British team ride Touchable.
Formerly ridden by Irishman Edward Doyle up to CSIO5* level, he was bought at the end of 2015 with Olympic selection in mind.
“It all came up a bit too quickly and it didn’t work out,” said Jessie, who took a break to have a baby last year. “He’s always been ridden by men before and it took a bit of time for me to get used to him and vice versa.”
Thursday’s International Stairway saw more clears than Wednesday’s feature class, helped by improving ground conditions. Despite some tricky distances — including a short combination that forced a number of faulters — five progressed to the second phase.
Both Alfie Bradstock (KBIS Caicos) and the show’s leading lady rider Tracy Priest (Caristo VDL) had a fence, slotting them into eventual third and fourth place.
It was Emma Slater who produced the first clear on the increasingly consistent Art D’Usance — although a non-counting lower pole did fall at fence 13.
But next in, Nigel and Jubilee III were neat and clean to overthrow the lead time by 1.71sec.
It was a super-consistent week for Jubilee, who recently showed decent form in Aachen,
New Forest and Hampshire County Show, Brockenhurst, Hants
narrowly missing a 1.50m rankings class win.
“She proved she had what it took to win at that level,” said Nigel, who has taken some time to achieve these results with this mare.
“She was a bit of hard work to begin with but when she understood what I wanted, it clicked into place and she’s been quite successful,” he said. “She always had the ability but she couldn’t put it together. It’s all been about making everything more consistent.”
Tredwell’s on song
HELEN TREDWELL’S sixth and seventh places in the stairway with Sebastian VII and Larksong helped keep her in the top two placings of the league table, with just the Stoneleigh final left to come.
She also picked up a win in the national 1.40m open with Constant II, a new ride she has taken over from Geoff Luckett this season.
“He fits in well with my other two horses — I’ve got a nice team now,” said Helen. “Normally I tend to be sent young horses so it’s nice to have one that can just go out and do it. He’s quick with a lot of jump and we’ve got a good partnership quite quickly.”
Dale Burnham has also found a consistent winner in eightyear-old Doriena, who breezed to a two second victory in the Frampton Estates 1.35m over Sammie Coffin and Willem De Lux.
Dale, who moved to new facilities in Northamptonshire in May, has produced the
Dutch mare since she was five years old.
“She wins a lot at 1.35-1.40m level,” said Dale. “It’s probably time to step her up a bit now and see what happens.”
Tim Davies enjoyed a blast round the first day’s national 1.30m open on Havanna De Cavron to take a win over Ben Bick and Elton LV.
Josie Gates’ nine-year-old has begun to produce results in stairways and trials this year, finishing fifth here.
“It’s good to have a class like this where you can take them for a jolly without being asked a question. Being able to have a go against the clock without going too mad is ideal,” Tim said. H&H