Sunday at the 2017 South of England International

      Rider and owner Katie Preston receives a swag of goodies from the event and class sponsor SsangYong UK

 

An Eventful Life filmed all riders on cross country at the South of England (2) - find out more here

 

Amateur eventer Katie Preston was pretty surprised to win the CCI2* at the SsangYong South of England International, not only because she was up against some very classy combinations but also because her horse Templar Justice has returned from injury recently

However the 10 year old thoroughbred gelding could not have had a better person to manage his rehabilitation as owner, rider and equine vet Katie has worked hard to bring him back to competition

With superstars like Pippa Funnell on Sandman 7 and Chris Burton on Lawtown Boy leading after the dressage on scores of 39.80 and 41.4, Katie was a little of the pace with a score of 52.4 but the pair made it up on cross country with the fastest time of the class, just two time penalties, and a clear show jumping round to win on a score of 54.4

 

Katie Preston

 

It was a close thing however as Mollie Summerland and Charly Van Ter Heiden were third after the dressage and moved into second place (54.5) with eight time penalties on cross country and four faults in the show jumping while Alice Dunsdon and Cool Dude finished third (56.50)

 

       Mollie Summerland looks determined as she sets out on Charly Van Ter Heiden

 

The cross country caused a fair amount of upsets as, not only did Pippa Funnell retire early in the course at the Timber Brushes at Fence 7 and Chris Burton get eliminated at the Oxer at Fence 6, but twelve other combinations were eliminated or retired and there were faults scattered around the course, with no-one making the optimum time.

The London Capital and Finance CIC1* class also had its fair share of tricky questions with Fence 6ab (Pagoda to Brush Arrow Head) and Fence 8 (Timber Corner Bar) causing a few problems but the in-form Gemma Tattersall flew around the course on Billy Shania.

Gemma and the seven year old by Billy Congo who has also had recent wins at Gatcombe, Aston-le-Walls and Brightling Park finished on their dressage score of 44 ahead of Liz Halliday-Sharp on Cooley Quicksilver (46.2) and Natalie McGoldrick on Tricky Johnie (46.7). It was a good weekend for Gemma who also added a win in the Open Novice on Sunday riding Tillingbourne to that of the CIC1*.

 

      Gemma Tattersall and Tillingbourne

 

While there were plenty of Olympians and Championship medallists competing, there were also many less experienced riders tackling the testing courses here; Australian rider Ben Leathers who we met at the Mitsubishi Motors Cup earlier this year was having just his second CIC1* start on Kauto Cyreo and learning a bit more about jumping bigger tracks in different going

"It wasn't my best result" admits Ben "I was really pleased with his dressage but he felt flat in the show jumping dropping some poles. So I went into the cross country a little on the back foot, being prepared to pull up if he wasn't feeling right. We had two stops on the cross country both due to deep ground and slipping, but he jumped both well when we represented"

"I couldn't fault him, he did all I asked, I just needed to attack more trusting the ground. But it was a great experience for both of us and an educational day, finishing the season sound and confident. Now we know what to expect for next season and we'll work on it in our training through the winter "

One of the young medallists was Saffie Osborne and her 14.1h Little Indian Feather, silver medallists from the Pony European Championships at Kapovar. Saffie and her 14.1h Little Indian Feather took the R & R Stevenson CIC*P class, leading from the start and adding just six time penalties with the fastest round of this class for the win

 

       Sir Mark Todd and Dusk Till Dawn have the fastest time, just 4 penalties, to win the Intermediate

     

The Open Intermediate and Intermediate classes were topped by Antipodean riders with Australia’s Sam Griffiths taking the Vardags Open Intermediate and Sir Mark Todd not only winning the London Capital & Finance Intermediate on the eight year old Dusk To Dawn (37.8) but also second place on McLaren (43.6).

Liz Halliday-Sharp was very close to another win in this class on Gorsehill Cooley to add to those on Saturday but a fall at the third last fence brought them unstuck while a good round from Will Furlong on Elstar moved him into third place (45.1)

 

       A clear show  jumping for Sam Griffiths and Paulank Brockagh

 

Sam Griffith’s win on his Rio horse Paulank Brockagh was a popular one with the Australian rider returning to the saddle only one week ago after recovering from a serious neck injury. Sam and Paulank Brockagh took the win by leading from the start with a score of 24.80 in the dressage and adding just 6.4 time faults on cross country – listen to our interview with Sam here

 

       Pippa Funnell and Billy The Biz

 

Pippa Funnell and Billy The Biz took the runner-up spot (36.3) and Pippa topped off the day with a birthday cake for mum, Jenny Nolan who has been at the helm of this event for 40 years. It’s a great event and we’ll be back yet again next year!

 

       Happy birthday mum!

 

Read our round up from Saturday at the South of England here