World Championships for ponies
Britain’s Tara Wilkinson wins by a whisker in the pony pairs, while Germany are victorious with a team gold
FEI World driving championship for ponies, Minden, Germany
TARA WILKINSON excelled on her senior championship debut to take gold for Britain in the pony pairs.
Lying in silver overnight, a little over five penalties separated her from Germany’s Jan-Felix Pfeffer going into the final day.
She delivered a neat cones round with Emma Burge’s pair of Capitola Mr Houdini and Menai Lone Ranger, adding one down and one for time around a very tight track that produced just the one double clear.
When Jan-Felix’s pair locked on to the finish too early, he struggled to steer them back on course. One cone plus an expensive six time-penalties saw him concede gold by a 0.26 of a penalty margin.
“I wasn’t expecting to win but you always aim for it,” said Tara who, at 20, was one of the youngest drivers in the competition.
Tara had put herself in the hunt with a seventh after dressage, while her marathon sixth — driving Capitola Mr Houdini paired with Belle Du Jour — was impressive considering they lost more than 16 seconds (four penalties) in the penultimate hazard.
“It was a fast obstacle on a hill and we’d got the speed up to go up the slope — there was a tight left which we did really quickly and then a tight right that shot towards the finish.
“The ponies are pretty clever and they locked on to the exit, then set off down the hill and I couldn’t pull them up. I pulled left and they caught the timing gear and a straw bale under the carriage. I managed to avoid going out the exit [which would have meant elimination] but I thought I’d wrecked my chances.”
In an eventful run, the pair had also been chased by a loose terrier through obstacle three.
PROMISING PERFORMANCE
IT was the third consecutive world championships at which the pony squad have brought home a medal, collecting individual silver and bronze in 2013 and individual gold and team bronze in 2015.
Britain’s individual scores would have put them in team bronze, but the withdrawal of pairs driver Alan Clarke through illness and the lack of a qualified reserve meant they were unable to field a full squad.
Representing Britain as individuals in the pony singles were Robert Buck (Thorneyside Emperor) and 2013 silver medallist Rosanna WaltersSymons, this time driving German sports pony Hurricain. Roger Campbell, who is based at Minden with Jacqueline Walter, was forward in the pony fours along with long-term team member
Sara Howe.
Roger finished best of the Brits in the pony fours, completing in a promising seventh in his second season with the grey Welsh section A team. They climbed from a 20th in the dressage with a strong third-placed marathon and third-placed cones.
Michael Bugener took gold for Germany ahead of Jan de Boer in silver and this year’s Royal Windsor victor Tinne Bax in bronze.
Cones day also saw some movement in the places in the pony singles, with Rosanna’s clear, plus 1.7 time-penalties, elevating her from 14th to a final position of tenth, while Robert dropped from eighth to 17th when he added 10 penalties.
Gold went to Germany’s Marlena Brenner who delivered a flawless double clear to hold her overnight lead. Switzerland’s Cedric Scherrer and Germany’s Katja Helpertz also kept clean sheets to take silver and bronze.
The team standings saw Germany take gold with the Netherlands 12.04 penalties behind in silver and Belgium in bronze.