With senior Royal Highland Show and Winter Amateur qualifiers up for grabs, the Scottish National Equestrian Centre was a hotbed of showjumping activity.
With 46 starters contesting the Foxhunter class offering three qualifying places for the Andrew Hamilton Highland Show championship final the job fell to course designer Diane Beaumont to wheedle out the wheat from the chaff.
Creating “the toughest track possible” within the class parameters she achieved the perfect finish, with 10 riders in the money producing just five double clears.
Relatively early in the jump-off draw, Fife-based event rider Wills Oakden “went in to the arena to win it” and did so by shaving three seconds off the previous fastest time for a lead that proved unassailable.
Reasserting her capability in the showjump arena was Wills’ 2013 Royal Highland Star for the Future Championship winning ride Greystone Midnight Melody, which he pilots for owners David Kenwright and Sylvia Douglas.
“There was a very clear option running down the first line to either take six or seven strides but a couple of the riders that went in before me went for the forward six and it meant they ran much wider round the turn following the planks,” said Wills.
“I really trust Molly to jump at that height so I took the steadier seven strides to save time by shaving distance off the turn.”
For Wills and the 11-year-old Greystone Pathfinder-sired mare, British Eventing and the aim of the international three-star contest at Bramham Horse Trials is very much plan A.
But as they proved with their 2013 Star for the Future win, British Showjumping is a very obvious and natural plan B.
“We contested the Foxhunter final at the Royal Highland Show last year and Molly actually had an incredibly unlucky pole, which is not at all like her,” he explained of the clean-jumping mare, who actually has a relatively low card of money for affiliated showjumping, due to the event season.
“The fence she rolled in the Fox ultimately became the very last fence of the Star for the Future final and she absolutely proved she had learned her lesson to clear it by miles and clinch that championship win,” he said.
Reflecting on Molly’s performance at SNEC, Wills added: “We generally go straight in and compete at 1m20 level, but we took the opportunity to have a warm-up round in the 1m15.
“She jumped clear, but we withdrew before the jump-off as I had set the RHS qualifier very much in the targets so didn’t want to buzz her up and cause her to lengthen and flatten.”
With the qualifier now in the bag, Wills’ attention will now revert to the upcoming event season: “We won’t go out again with her now until Oasby and Lincoln but with the weather the way it is at the moment, it’s going to be hard to predict if we will get going.
“I love showjumping it is my favourite of the disciplines but I can’t quite yet imagine going without the adreneline buzz from the cross country,” he added.
In the Winter Amateur Qualifier at 1m20 level which provides a pathway to the championship final at Arena UK in May, the win was nailed by Stirlingshire rider Jordan Thompson.
Jordan, who hails from Larbert, but who has been working as a stable jockey for Douglas Duffin for the last two years, took the win on former HOYS Foxhunter Championship finalist Oslo Du Pre Fleuri.
He has been riding the 12-year-old Grade A French-bred gelding for the last four months.
Although Oslo is a relatively new ride for Jordan, they have been consistently jumping around 1m20 and 1.30 tracks including a recent win on the Sunday of the Kingsbarn Elite, within the 1m30 open Bliss London qualifier.
“The course for the first round at SNEC was good,” said Jordan, “Quite technical but not too big.”
But, he conceded, the raised height of the jump-off suited them better.
Drawn early, the duo returned to the arena second of the eight clears, meaning they had to assert a lead from the get-go.
“We made all our turns whilst maintaining momentum to cover the ground,” he explained.
“A few tighter turns put me up on the clock but ultimately it was the forward shot I got to the last fence that secured us the win,” he reflected.
Jordan now hopes to progress through this season to pick up a qualification for the Young Masters Championship Final at the Royal Highland Show a competition in which he was placed eighth last year on board World Star and also aspires to qualify for the amateurs at the Horse of the Year Show.
Across the two-day contest, Fife riders made their presence very much felt on the leaderboards, with Edenside Riding Stables’ Alister Gatherum clinching second place to Jordan in the winter amateur qualifier onboard Gabor, and Drummcarrow’s Stephen Lohoar romping to victory with Deberatha in Saturday’s Newcomers.
Perthshire young event rider Eva Sheppard won the Sunday British Novice with Karabah.
Fresh from a treble of wins at SNEC on their previous outing, Colinsburgh’s Katherine Lindsay also notched up another two wins with her mare Shannondale Somax.
The Shannondale Sarco St Ghyvan-sired mare joined Katherine’s string of event horses a little more than a year ago, having previously been produced and ridden by Perthshire event and show rider Rose Macpherson.
Katherine progressed ‘Bear’, Now seven-years-old, to novice level eventing last season, finishing clear cross country in the open novice under-18 section at Borders event Floors Castle.
But since affiliating to BS only very recently, she has proved her aptitude for the showjump arena, winning five classes from just two shows and notching up £145 in prize money.
Results
Saturday
British novice: 1 Abby Thompson, Everyway; 2 Alyson Walker, Buffalo Cloud JX; 3 Claire Watters, Dreamcatch Her.Discovery: 1 Katherine Lindsay, Shannondale Somax; 2 Nikki Robb, Kocomo; 3 Hayley Brogan, Ti Amo Darcy.1m05 open: 1 Craig Hamilton, Ujoni; 2 Scott Linford, Leen; 3 Holly Haig, Nakanos Daughter.Newcomers: 1 Stephen Lohoar, Debertha; 2 Stuart Sloan, Tinka’s Flash; 3 Amy Ogilvie, CMS Capitol.1m15 open: 1 Jodie Crawford, Telstar O; 2 Scott Linford, Leen; 3 Rachael Clark, Tiffany III.Foxhunter (inc. Royal Highland Show championship qualifier): 1 William Oakden, Greystone Midnight Melody; 2 Mark Turnbull, Cartouch III; 3 Kelsey Smith, Hero II.
Sunday
1m15 open: 1 Declan Irvine, Hojmarks Rosetta; 2 Alistair Gatherum, Gabor; 3 Craig Hamilton, Sebastians Native.Winter amateur qualifier: 1 Jordan Thompson, Oslo Du Pre Fleuri; 2 Alistair Gatherum, Gabor; 3 Declan Irvine, Curra Glas; 4 (also qualified) Jenna Stead, Ard Lipstick.British novice: 1 Eva Sheppard, Karabah; 2 Iona Drummond, Starfield Diva; 3 Katherine Lindsay, Don Quidam.Discovery: 1 Katherine Lindsay, Shannondale Somax; 2 Rachel Payne, Claria; 3 Kara Blane, Sir Bonzai.1m05 open: 1 Craig Hamilton, Dynamic Too; 2 Blyth Brewster, Carthino G; 3 Emma Carmichael, Cooley Lucky Strike.Newcomers: 1 Blyth Brewster, Carthino G; 2 Emily Muir, Mayfair IV; 3 Martin Arnott, Casino Royal XI.