Driving National Carriage Driving Championships
Neither an interrupted season nor having to borrow a horse dents Wilf Bowman-Ripley’s form, and a pony who spent years ‘sat in a bog’ triumphs
A QUIET season did nothing to curb the prowess of Wilf Bowman-Ripley, who aced all three phases of the horse fours to win by an easy 21-penalty advantage.
An extremely tight cones time played into the Essex driver’s skilled hands, seeing him significantly broaden his advantage over closest rival Dan Naprous when he produced the sole clear of the class.
Despite having a couple of his team sidelined with lameness, he managed to field an able squad of horses, who added just 7.23 penalties for time against an average cones score of 19 penalties for the other competitors.
“I was getting information back that the time was tight and that you had to push on. It’s often better when you attack though, as when you have a few points in hand going in, you can be a bit lax,” said Wilf.
With a chunk of the season eaten up by Team GBR squad training duties — including at the recent World Single Horse Championships in Kronenberg, the Netherlands — his team has had just four runs this year. Wilf said it was always a struggle to keep them on the road.
“I have to do training to pay for it and I end up having to sell the good ones,” he said. “It’s an expensive sport and I am not sure now if I will be able to carry on next season without a sponsor.”
HOWE CLAIMS GLORY
PONY fours driver Sara Howe also returned from a lay-off to ace her class with her Welsh section As, collecting her eighth national title in ten years and gaining valuable points at what was also the first selection trial for next year’s pony World Championships in Hungary.
“I had August off and went on a cruise, then to Hungary as team trainer for the juniors and then to Kronenberg with the paras. The ponies liked having a break but I was worried I’d be a bit rusty with the rein-handling,” she said.
The class looked destined to be a closely fought match with just 0.5 of a penalty separating Sara from Roger Campbell in the dressage, only for Roger to have a dramatic tip-up in the third
obstacle of the marathon. Despite Roger being dragged under the vehicle, both driver and ponies were reported to have escaped with just scrapes and bruises.
“I thought it was going to be Roger’s competition to be honest,” said Sara. “Word came back to me before the start and I was told not to push too much."
The advanced pony pairs was won in breezy style by Breda 2015 world champion Anna Grayston, who has introduced new pony, Sid, to the mix this season. He was used in all three phases, with Anna delivering the lowest dressage of the competition, as well as marathon and cones wins.
“Sid has come on massively; it’s the first time he has done eight proper big obstacles and he coped really well,” she said.
Although now aged 11, the half-brother to her retired gold medallist Rodney “had done nothing but sit in a bog in
Ireland” until Anna bought him after Breda.
“We couldn’t catch him for the first week and it took 18 months to gain his confidence. He’s not frightened of anything but he is slightly people-phobic,” she said.
The advanced pony singles is always an ultra-competitive class, and never more so when selection points are also at stake.
Just 0.38 of a penalty divided the top three competitors going into the final phase, but the tight time proved a huge influence, allowing Robert Buck to climb from third to first to claim his first national title with Julie Camm’s 20-year-old Welsh section D Thorneyside Emperor.
“A win is well overdue for him. I think it’s super for Julie who has had 14 wins abroad with her two ponies, but this title has been a missing link,” said Robert.
He revealed his key to a fast cones round was to not canter.
“Thorneyside Emperor is trained the way all ponies are for Julie: to drop their nose long and produce a big, strong trot,” he added.
‘TOP OF THE TREE’
THE event was also the first selection trial for the advanced horse pairs, which saw Libby Priest claim the title for the first time with her Dutch geldings Acoord (Ace), Eenzaam Ann De Top (Ollie) and Fiktor.
“We’ve been reserve champion twice but never made it to the top of the tree,” said Libby, whose hard work in the dressage paid off with a win in the phase.
“I live in the Isle of Man and commuting is hard, but I’ve probably been trying for this since 2006,” she said.
Two whips in their first season at open claimed the single horse and single pony line-ups.
The pony class went to Alison Drew and her nine-year-old Connemara x Welsh Blossom, who had a tense 0.8 of a penalty advantage over Louise Kaiholm going into the cones.
“I heard the music go for Louise’s double clear and thought, ‘Uh oh’,” said Alison. “It was a relief when I heard it for me as well. My aim had just been to go for it and not make any silly driver mistakes.”
Charlotte Chard and her part-bred Welsh section D Caspar were named the new open horse champions. The grey gelding came from a private driving home three-and-a-half years ago but has taken to his new job “like a duck to water”.
“My biggest worry this weekend was the mound at obstacle two — it was a bit of a rider frightener but it drove incredibly well,” said Charlotte, who also rides but took up the box seat in 2012 through the Driving Back to Sport initiative. “It was nice to have such varied obstacles.”
Jeff Ormerod became the first driver to claim five back-to-back wins in the pony tandems when a cones clear elevated him above overnight leader David Taylor.
“Hot and fast” Welsh section C wheeler Ruby and leader Woody (Kingswood Lynx and Hillgarth Rockon Girl) are in their second season together, and closed a full nine-penalty gap with their quick round.
The open pony pairs went to Tom McGregor, who held onto his decent dressage lead with his Welsh geldings, Tyrcoedbach Tomos and Gurnos Welsh Antonio, while Fred Pendlebury retained his title in the open horse pairs, finishing 20 penalties out in front.