Willa and Caja 20 at Blenheim Palace
Keep your eyes peeled this year for a young British rider with some real up and coming talent in her stable as 26 year old Willa Newton made her mark in 2016 with two significant wins
The first was at Blenheim Palace International on Caja 20 who took out the CIC3* 8/9 YO Championship. Willa and Caja 20 rose from sixth place after dressage to third with a clear show jumping round and then posted one of the fastest cross-country rounds of the competition, clinching the win against a host of top international competitors such as Laura Collett and Andrew Nicholson on their up and coming horses
Caja 20 was bought as a five year old on the advice of Dirk Schrade, who Willa has spent time with in Germany each winter since finishing University in 2012, and the young mare started the year well with a fourth place in the CCI2* at Houghton Hall. In 2015 Caja 20 won the CIC2* British Eventing Young Horse Championship at Osberton and in 2016 she backed that up with another win in this class riding Lauries Laudatio 2, another horse found for Willa by Dirk.
Lauries Laudatio 2 - 2016 KBIS British Eventing 7 Year Old Champion
The win at Osberton in October finished off a good season for Lauries Laudatio 2 who also won the Intermediate at Burgham, was third in the CIC1* at Chatsworth, third at Houghton in the CCI1* and won the Open Novice at Richmond
“He’s got an incredible brain and is very easy” says Willa of the seven year old gelding by Lauries Crusader “He is so good on cross country, you don’t waste a second on him as you don’t need to set him up for a fence, he just does it. For such a little horse he has an enormous stride so he really covers the ground and he eats up the combinations”
Willa told us more about Lauries Laudatio 2 at Osberton - you can watch their cross country ride here
Willa Newton
Willa and Cavatina Tinkerbelle
Some of the young horses that Willa will be working on during the off season include the five year old mare Cavatina Tinkerbelle, who caught our eye at Shelford Manor where she finished fifth in the Novice. Another of Willa’s five year olds, Champions Firecracker won the BE100 at Allerton Park (watch their cross country ride here) and qualified for both Burghley and Osberton 5 Year Old Young Event Horse Championships in 2016
Willa and Champions Firecracker
These young horses will be some of the equine talent moving up to fill the shoes of the elder statesman of the stable, Neelix, who took Willa to team gold at the Junior European Championships in 2008 and three consecutive Young Rider European Championships winning team gold and individual silver at Blair Castle in 2011. Willa and Neelix returned to Blair Castle to compete in the CIC3* in 2016; sadly they didn’t have quite the same success there however they did take third place in the CIC3* at Hartpury
It is always difficult for young riders to make the transition to professional eventing at senior level but Willa certainly made her mark in 2016 with a team of young horses showing plenty of promise for the future. One to look out for in 2017 ........
