Racehorse Sanctuary News
9th January 2008 |
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Sevenoaks Riding Club support The Racehorse Sanctuary
September 30th saw the first Eventers’ Challenge organised by Sevenoaks Riding Club. The new and interesting format proved a great success, and the day was enjoyed by all. As keepers of ex-racehorse themselves, the organisers Becci Smith and Vanda Graham chose to run the event in support of The Racehorse Sanctuary and raised £450 towards their work in retraining ex-racehorses. After setting up in the pouring rain on the Friday, and facing a huge puddle in the arena on the Saturday, (converting jump 1 into a water jump!) the sun shone on the day, and lifted spirits. The wonderful team of helpers kept the day running smoothly, even allowing one of the organisers to take time to compete her own ex-racehorse in the senior novice. The format was different to that of a hunter trial or a show jumping class, giving a novel twist to the competition. Riders were faced with twenty-one fences, several involving multiple elements, to be negotiated against the clock. The course began with a twisting track of five show jumps in the arena, then it was out on to the cross-country course to chase the very competitive optimum time, before negotiating the three more show jumps on grass. Knocking down a show jump added four seconds. Refusals only wasted time although three refusals at any one fence led to elimination. Nevertheless everyone was given the chance to finish the course. As predicted the real bogy fence was the first show jump after the cross-country, with horses just rolling the top pole. This was especially true for the Open, with a good third of riders picking up a four second penalty there. The only rider who had a spotless round over the Open course was fourth placed Charlotte Neville and Clover Hill Spirit. First place went to Lizzie McCready, who achieved a time of 2 mins 19 secs which included a four second penalty. She was three seconds inside the optimum time. 5th place went to a successfully retrained racehorse, Zeptepi, ridden by Sharon Richardson. Alice Burgess and Ludo, last to go in the Junior Novice, won on a time of 2mins 5 seconds, three seconds outside the Novice optimum of 2mins 2 secs. Sally Maltby, until recently Sally Pugmire, celebrated her married status by winning the Senior Novice class on My Amigo II. My Amigo was the only winning horse to have a clean sheet and was only two seconds outside the Novice time.
Results:
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