Clarke should now always be bang on time with the handmade Loomes & Co. watch
Read our full wrap up from Rockingham here
An Eventful Life filmed all competitors on cross country at
Fairfax & Favor Rockingham International 2022 - order or view videos here
Another New Zealand rider claimed the prized Loomes Championship and its handmade wristwatch worth £8,000 on Sunday at the 2022 Fairfax & Favor Rockingham International Horse Trials
New Zealand’s Clarke Johnstone won the Advanced Intermediate class and the Loomes Championship riding Menlo Park. The Loomes Championship is unique to Rockingham with the hand-produced watch made locally in Stamford by Robert Loomes & Co. awarded to the rider in the top five who finishes closest to the optimum time on the cross country across the Advanced Intermediate and Open Intermediate classes. The watch has previously been won by Australia’s Bill Levett, Ireland’s Jonty Evans and Austin O’Connor, Britain’s Oliver Townend and New Zealand’s Mark Todd
For much of Sunday, it looked as if the first lady winner would get the watch with Laura Collett and Dacapo in the Open Intermediate finishing bang on optimum time but Clarke and Menlo Park, the final combination to go, also hit the optimum time in the Advanced Intermediate
The win went to Clarke by virtue of show jumping times – as Clarke had the faster time in show jumping – as happened in 2019 when Austin O’Connor won on show jumping time countback ahead of Piggy March
Much more to come from Rockingham International in our full report later this week
