Vicky and Victoria are hitting star trail

Vicky Smart has been having a very successful season with her ex-racehorse Chivola, recently winning the new Retrained Racehorse class at Great Yorkshire Show.

The five-year-old bay gelding was trained by Vicky's husband, Bryan, at their Sutton Bank stables. When it was clear the horse did not have a great future in racing, his owner gave him to the Smarts for their daughter to ride when she is a bit older.

Vicky has been competing him in the show ring where he has proved to be much more at home than on the gallops. They have had a number of successes this season, including the Search for a Star (SFAS) racehorse to riding horse HOYS qualifier, held at Vale View Equestrian Centre. On top of this, they had a major win at Hickstead where Chivola took the championship in the Retraining of Racehorses/Tattersalls show series.

Victoria Hazeldine, from Whixley near York, was particularly delighted to win a place to compete at HOYS as this will be in a showing class, an area that is a new challenge for her.

"I had a go at Search for a Star about 10 years ago but our thing is eventing," said Victoria. "We are real amateurs at showing."

She came second in the SFAS show hunter class, riding her father Steven's horse KEC Striker (Freddie).

The horse was originally bought as a four-year-old from Ireland for event rider Oliver Townend. When he did not mature quickly enough, he went back to Steven, who is a joint master of the York and Ainsty Hunt and proved to be an excellent field master's horse. The Hazeldines also own the top event horse, Master Rose, which is ridden by Townend.

After hunting followed by a month's holiday for the horse, Victoria began riding Freddie and decided to try entering for the Search for a Star competition. The annual competition has been developed by South Essex Insurance Brokers. Nicolina Mackenzie, marketing manager, said: "I am delighted with the excellent standard of horse and rider competing and the general turnout improves each year."

THE Badsworth and Bramham Moor Show Cross event is being held at Red House, Moor Monkton, York today. There is still a chance to enter the minima, novice and open classes. For information and to reserve an entry, call 07917 151796 or 07950 028047.

KARINA HAWKRIDGE, the Tadcaster-based freelance riding instructor who launched dressage competing on the internet, is set to stage her second Winter League Challenge.

Competitors will use her site, www.Interdressage.com, to submit their efforts at home captured on camera, enabling them to compete worldwide in dressage, style and performance and showing classes.

The competition will run from October to March and is sponsored by Andrea Miles, of Mirrors for Training, a company specialising in giant mirrors for menages. It is open to non-BHS registered riding clubs, saddle clubs and livery yards who can put forward as many competitors as they like to run up league points in the Mirrors for Training Winter League Challenge. A set of four training mirrors worth around 1,000 is up for grabs by the winners.

The dressage videos are all judged by British Dressage listed judge Glynis Mills and Interdressage write their own tests. The Winter League Challenge will run alongside the already established dressing and showing league which is sponsored by Blue Chip.