It’s three for three
A twisty and competitive jump-off course produces three foot-perfect rounds for three tickets to Horse of the Year Show
ALICE WEIGHTMAN and Cindy VI made a fruitful trek from Yorkshire to the south coast to claim the first of the season’s pony Foxhunter qualifiers with a breezy 2.44sec advantage.
With only 20 starters forward for this year’s opening second round, course-builder Matt Hoskins’ job in pitching the right track can’t have been an easy one.
But he gauged it with precision, stepping up from a flowing first round that produced 10 clears to a twisty and up-to-height jump-off that delivered exactly three faultless performances to match the three available tickets.
Fifteen-year-old Alice has been proving herself a consistent performer, having already collected qualifying spots for the winter JCs and JA.
She was no exception here — the only rider to pilot two ponies through the final phase, she laid down a solid opening round on the less experienced nine-year-old Epapke to just clock an unlucky four faults at the last.
Mia Barr delivered the first treble clear with the Irish-bred 10-year-old Craughwell Boy —
who was bought five months ago with Foxhunters in mind — before next in Cleo Loizzo and Banner Girl produced another faultless round that nipped 1.48sec from the lead.
In penultimate draw, Alice was in a strong position with her second ride, and the Dutch-bred 11-year-old mare utilised her “scope to burn” as she extracted herself from a tricky spot exiting the double. Taking all the inside routes, including a tight angle over the penultimate tall vertical, they blitzed the target time.
“It was a hard jump-off course to remember; there were many different routes,” said Alice, who sourced both of her ponies from Holland. “I was lucky to have almost the best draws — going second to last gave me some time to watch and see what I could do.”
Having gained useful experience with some competitive trips overseas at the tail end of last year, Alice is hoping her form remains for next week’s European trials at Chepstow.
“It’s my first year doing European trials, so that’s the main aim this season as well as pony showjumpers with both of them,” she added. “Cindy did her first JA class in November and we qualified at Arena UK. Since then, she’s just kept on improving.”
‘YOU JUST HAD TO GO FOR IT’
IT will be the second time Cleo Loizzo and 10-year-old Banner Girl will be contesting the Foxhunter at Horse of the Year Show, where they finished seventh in last year’s newcomers final.
“You just had to go for it today; unless you did all the turns, you wouldn’t be in with a chance,” she said. “I know I can trust her and you can keep her moving to an upright.”
Leicestershire-based Cleo has owned the grey roan mare for two years and has brought her up through the ranks from British novice.
“We bought her from some friends who didn’t do too much with her — we always knew she was going to be good,” added Cleo, who was quickly back up and running, having returned earlier in the week from a break to Florida.
Mia Barr had a long wait from second to go to find out whether she had clung on to a ticket, but was thrilled to be making her first trip to the Birmingham finals.
“I was pacing up and down watching them!” she said. “I really wasn’t expecting to qualify today, I thought I’d just try to jump a first round clear, but I never expected to make the third round — the last three jumps looked about 1.35m, they were huge.
“It was a very competitive jump-off track, but I thought I had nothing to lose and might as well go for it. I decided to do all the turns and couldn’t believe it when we went clear.”