Brits dominate
Jamie Wingrove claims the grand prix, while last year’s amateur champion successfully defends her title and another amateur stays true to his motto
Jamie Wingrove takes CSI2* prize, while amateur rider defends her title
JAMIE WINGROVE clinched victory in a blanket finish to the Boodles two-star grand prix. Riding Bart VI, Jamie made up his time over the early part of the course to respect the last two fences on a curve.
“It was a tricky line, but I’d built in enough time to take a check,” said Jamie, who had already been in the ribbons over the first two days with Bart.
Cheshire rider Chris Smith pulled off a good win in the Horse & Hound 1.30m riding Elmo Hill.
This proved a great local result as Elmo Hill, a Verdi eight-yearold, was bred by Andrew Whalley a few miles from Bole worth and he is owned by local course-designer Gillian Milner. As
Elmo Hill was given plenty of time to mature, he did not start competing until two years ago.
“He did a lot in his first year and was given a long break and he’s stepped up well this season,” said Chris. “He doesn’t have a big rangy stride, but he covers more ground than you think and luckily I’d turned inside to the [penultimate] double in the first round, so he knew where he was going,” said Chris, who has Elmo Hill qualified for the Talent Seekers final at Birmingham.
Beating the English ‘FIREWORKS’
THE NETHERLANDS’ Timothy Hendrix produced one of the speediest wins of the week when Jewel LVP topped the John Deere two-phase with a blink-and-you-missed-it round.
“My horse is naturally fast and she looks for her fences, and I saw some turns I could try,” said Timothy. “I have jumped in England before and find riders go off like a firework, but maybe they were a bit more patient today.”
Mikey Pender made his first outing with Charlotte Clarke and Dale Burnham’s Doriena a winning one, when the Irish rider took every risk to win the Conwy Land Rover class.
“I brought three of my own horses and Dale offered Doriena,” said Mikey. “He’s a lovely horse with plenty of blood and he was careful and good on his turns.”
Early-drawn Louise Whitaker and Cleopatra maintained a relentless pace to win the AC Jackson accumulator.
“I knew I had to have a go,” said Louise. “Cleopatra covers the ground and is quick without looking rushed. We got a good turnback mid-way round to give us time to chip in an extra stride in to the joker.”
Early to go in the Watts Commercial Finance rankings class, Peter Moloney bagged maximum points riding Team Harmony’s D’Atlantique Royale.
“He’s a big horse with a huge
stride and we were very tight back to the double. It was some round,” said the Irish rider.
Jamie Wingrove topped the Watson Plant Hire speed with early-drawn Heartstring (Carly).
“I walked the course and had it in my head what to do,” said Jamie, who is Birmingham-bound for the Foxhunter championship with the Cicero Z Van Paemel seven-year-old.
“Carly has always been a competitive mare and as our Foxhunter second round was big enough, I thought we’d have a go here,” said Jamie.
Victory in the Brooke two-star jump-off class went to one of the youngest riders, 14-year-old Sienna Charles.
Riding the banana-loving Chaitanya 2, Sienna blazed a trail from her early draw in the 12-strong jump-off.
“The early vertical to triple bar opened us up a little bit, but she came straight back for the double of verticals,” said Sienna.
Viggo Björklund and his older sister Alma took the top two places in the final two-star competition, the Johnsons Printers accumulator.
The Swedish riders live in Florida and train with Eddie Macken. They were making their debut at Bolesworth.
While Alma set the early pace with Unex Captain Chaos, Viggo took the lead at the halfway stage with Vincero and they were never headed.
“This is my fifth show with Vincero, but he cleared the [skinny planks] joker well,” said Viggo.
BILLINGTON’S EUPHORIC
DEFENDING champions Sarah Billington and Uforia JX again saved their best until last to win the Andrews Bowen amateur (A) grand prix.
“She hasn’t touched a fence all week and was really up for this,” said Sarah, who led from second draw in the 10-strong jump-off, clocking 35.46 seconds. “I love open distances where I can use her big stride. We both like to win, so I took a stride out to the last to make sure.”
It was a dead-heat for second place, Julie Slade (Nicholas 55) and Natasha Piper (Valentijn O) both clocking 36.64 seconds.
Hotesse (Dragon) lived up to her fiery name to win the
‘Amadeus isn’t experienced on the
turns, so I just had to go faster’
TONY PEARSON
Alessandra Albanese competition for Melissa Garry.
“We usually miss out on the big occasions, so she deserves this first international victory,” said Melissa. “She’s hot by name and hot by nature, but she’ll do it all — jump, turn and gallop.”
Polly Gredley made a winning Bolesworth debut when Unex Arantos, whom she took over from her brother Tim at Christmas, won the Irish Horse Gateway class from their late draw.
“I didn’t watch anyone else go but knew I would have to be sharp, so I just kept going forward,” said Polly.
Tony Pearson was true to his motto, “work hard to pay the bills”, as he clinched victory in the Gatehouse amateur (B) grand prix riding Tracy Cottrell’s last-drawn Amadeus M.
Tony opened with Pepito D’Airsain (Pepi) on 39.63 thinking that would earn him a top-three place, but double clears became progressively faster, and he finished eventual sixth.
“Amadeus isn’t as experienced as Pepi on the turns, so as I couldn’t turn any tighter, I just had to go faster,” said Tony.
The Windsor rider started as he meant to go on as he took the top two places in the opening Jenkinson Forest Products (B). After Pepi showed the way to clock 30.61, Tony risked a gallop to the last with Amadeus M (30.23).
“I’ve only been riding him a year and taking that stride out made all the difference,” said Tony.
Stacey Willsone topped the Cazenove Management two-phase riding Steady The Helm, a horse she bought just three months ago from Tim Page.
“This is only our third show, but I bought him because he knows his job and he has been perfect from the start,” said Stacey. “He likes to go on a forward stride and we were pretty fast to the last.”