Future looking bright as Yorkshire prospects prepare for London show

Staged a week on Friday as part of the London International Horse Show, Joe Clayton, Stephen Crosby and Jessica Hewitt will all represent the West Yorkshire region. Clayton will partner Valentin R with Crosby on board Aramis Van Halbeek and Hewitt paired with Zaronda II. And that trio will be joined by Sally Hopkinson and Laura Robinson, who will be flying the flag for North Yorkshire.

Hopkinson will team up with Theunis while Robinson rides Cree Cruiser.

Completing the White Rose super septet are East Yorkshire’s Scarlett Ward and South Yorkshire’s Thomas Whitaker.

Ward will partner Milena 8 with Whitaker on board Shearwater Upanda. Standing in the way of the Yorkshire hopefuls in the Dodson & Horrell and the World Class Programme Under-23 British Championship Final will be another 17 combinations.

They are Zoe Adams (Satonamillion), Chloe Aston (Kolibri Classic), Abbe Burchmore-Eames (Wilandri E), Jessica Dimmock (Capello II), Jessie Drea (Touchable), Lucy Guild (Titi D’Oase), Jessica Mendoza (Classic Highfly), Abigail Newbery (Olympia III), Emma O’Dwyer (Miss Tonic), Jake Saywell (Perfect Rouge), Louise Saywell (Hello Winner), Carian Scudamore (Larino 0087), James Smith (Cumina), Ben Walker (Victory VI), Emily Ward (Wild Rose II), Kimberly White (Catapult) and Chloe Winchester (Avoca Valkyrie).

The final carries a total prize fund of £15,300 with training vouchers to the value of £2,900 awarded to the top eight prize-winning riders.

Only riders eligible to compete for Great Britain are able to contest the final and Showjumping World Class Performance manager Rob Hoekstra is looking forward to an absolute cracker.

“It’s very exciting to have some of the top Under-23’s in the country competing in this class,” said Hoekstra.

“I’m sure that some of the riders will become a big part of our future and I’m looking forward to working with them.”

The star Yorkshire septet will be hoping to follow in the footsteps of the likes of Scott Brash, who took second spot in the weekend’s Gucci Grand Prix in Paris.

British duo Brash and Ben Maher – the current World No 1 and No 2 respectively – headed a star-studded line up who all had eyes fixed on the 350,000 Euros on offer. But first prize went to Frenchman Kevin Staut on Silvana HDC, who edged out Brash and Hello Ursula XII by just one second in the 13-rider jump off.

The first round had seen Maher incur four faults on Jane F Clark’s grey mare Cella with whom he won team gold and individual silver at this year’s European Championships. Michael Whitaker had also incurred nine faults with his 2013 European Team Gold medal horse Viking V.

And it was left to Brash, from Peebleshire, to keep GB’s hopes high for the jump off by producing a brilliant clear with Lady Pauline Kirkham & Lady Pauline Harris’s 12 year-old bay mare Hello Ursula XII. First to go in the jump off was French ace Aymeric de Ponnat with Armitage Boy who set the standard with a clear in a time of 42.95 seconds.

After many combinations accrued faults, Staut with Silvana HDC eventually managed to topple that time by jumping clear in a time of 39.56 seconds.

Brash and Ursula then went clear, but in stopping the clock at 40.72 the pairing were just a second over Staut’s time. Holland’s Gerco Schroder and London looked close on their heels but finished just slightly slower in a time of 41.32 slotting them into third place relegating the initial pathfinder, Aymeric de Ponnat into fourth.

Brash said: “Kevin was very fast, he was always going to be difficult to beat and I really am delighted to have finished as we have.

“We now go on to Olympia which is my ‘home’ show and I just hope we can do well there also.”