What a year for Kitty King!
Another fabulous event at Osberton has wrapped up with even the weather staying lovely for the several days that this special Young Horse Championship and international eventing competition event spans
This is a big event with plenty going on and the Sunday is always packed with plenty of non-eventing action from Gate Jumping, Hound Displays, Driving Displays and even a Tug-of-War. There are so many doggy things going on that there is even a dedicated Dog Arena where our other four legged friends strut their stuff.
However there was plenty of eventing action throughout the day, with the CCI1*and CCI2* classes culminating in the show jumping phase in the EquiTrek Arena. This was an influential phase for the two ladies that have been battling it out for the top spot in the CCI1* since equal scores in the dressage phase; Tanya Kyle snatched the lead briefly after cross country thanks to being nearer the optimum time but one rail down dropped her to third place (41.2) while Alex Postolowsky incurred eight faults, dropping her to seventh (45.2).
“Can't believe it..Mazie (Just Amazing III) jumped CLEAR SJ to finish SECOND in the CCI* out of 115, to none other than Kitty King!” said Felicity on Twitter
Kitty King has been on amazing form lately and she continued in that vein by jumping clear on Creevagh Cooley to win on their dressage score of 38.6 while 17 year old Felicity Collins on Just Amazing III, a mare previously competed by her mum Vicky, thought it ‘just amazing’ to finish in second place on their dressage score of 41.1. They put in a very consistent performance here over the course of the event, in their first CCI1* together.
Another young British rider, Mary Edmundson, took fourth place riding Dinky III (43.4) while Belgium’s Constantin Van Rijckevorsel and Stephanie D'Andrimont finished in fifth and sixth places.
This pair seem to have really struck it off together - Oliver Townend and Cillnabradden Evo
Oliver Townend did not put a foot wrong throughout the CCI2* competition on his new ride, Cillnabradden Evo. Thanks to a very good dressage score Oliver had rails in hand going into the show jumping but he did not need them, jumping clear to claim the win on a score of 26.3, well ahead of second placed William Fox-Pitt riding Ramdam de Mons (35.5) and third placed Nicola Wilson riding Ngong Hills (36.9), who also finished with clear rounds. The USA’s Lauren Keiffer broke the British strong hold on the top ten by finishing in tenth place thanks to her clear round on Landmarks Monaco
Pippa Funnell and the special Billy Walk On
Pippa Funnell had two horses finish in the top ten of the CCI1* but she claimed the top spot in the CICYH1* (6YO) with Billy Walk On, following up his win at Chatsworth at his first international start. This six year-old is half-brother to Billy Shannon, the mare she lost to leukaemia in 2013, making the horse owned by Nick and Barbara Walkinshaw all the more special – you can find out more about Billy Walk On in our interview with Pippa earlier this year
Piggy French, who has also had an excellent competition at Osberton winning the KBIS British Eventing Young Horse 4YO class, was second in the CICYH1* with Jump Jet II and Gemma Tattersall was third with Chillis Gem, by Chilli Morning and one of the many talented Chilli youngsters owned by Christopher Stone
Willa Newton and Caja 20
With just 0.4 penalties separating the top three in the CICYH2* (7YO) the cross country time was always going to be a must to make but Willa Newton, Emily King and William Fox-Pitt all had the pedal to the metal and jumped double clears to maintain their first, second and third places. 25 year old Willa riding Caja 20 held off 19 year old Emily on Dargun who in turn held off the wily old (well, certainly older than the other two) Mr Fox-Pitt riding another of his talented greys, Dynasty. Emily took over the ride on Dargun earlier this year from Vicky Tuffs, the winner of this year’s KBIS British Eventing Young Horse 5YO class here a few days ago
With all these talented young horses coming up we can look forward to watching some lovely equine athletes competing at higher levels in the near future plus maybe we’ll be seeing some of them at Le Lion d’Angers later this month .........
Final results all classes here
Oliver Townend and Cillnabradden Evo
