Stephanie Takes Top Two Places in Group 3 While Sally Extends her Group 2 Lead in the League

A revised course incorporating a cleverly sited narrow fence at the top of an incline together with the traditional water crossings – competitors were asked to go through or over water on four occasions – meant that positive riding and forward thinking were the order of the day at Grange Farm, Wittering on Saturday 15th September.

The Intro Section was the first of the day, providing competitors, both new and existing, the opportunity to experience the competition at the entry level. With the current joint leaders on the JumpCross league not competing this time, it gave other combinations the opportunity to close the gap. The competitive section saw Rachel Maciag and her chestnut mare, Maisy overcome recent steering problems, to claim a very popular first place ahead of Constance Copestake on Smokey Joe with Teresa Stoner and Piorots Quest completing the first three places.

Stephanie Caswell with two rides in Senior Group 3 was too strong for the rest of the field, claiming both 1st and 2nd places. First to go on Conker, the total set of 190.83 which proved too much of a target with only Edie, who was tackling JumpCross for the first time with Stephanie, coming home with a score under 200. Third place was taken by the consistent partnership of Vanessa Lowther and Charlem.

The Junior Group 3 section gave Rachel Maciag her second ride of the day but this time, she had to settle for second behind George Jackson riding the attractive tricolour gelding, Pilgrim, who just one rolled pole around the course. Third place went to Madison Colbert riding Firefox.

A small but select Senior 3 team section was not decided until the last rider had completed the course. After the first riders had completed, Mission Improbable held the lead from Manic Mares and Wishful Thinkers. However, at the close of the section, the triumphant victors were the Manic Mares, Charlotte Adams with Indiana and Vanessa Lowther with Charlem ahead of the Wishful Thinkers, Emma Harrison & Cate Croll. The Mission Improbable team slipped to third.

The Pony Club section always sees competitive riding and this time was no different. The Burghley Pony Club had four teams entered and definitely had the advantage over the sole entry from the Fitzwilliam. The experienced Hurricanes were the victors from the Harriers and the Gladiators made it a Burghley one-two-three.
Clearing the “joker” fence to claim a penalty bonus was at a premium in the Group 2 sections with only two combinations jumping it cleanly – the fence judge certainly got plenty of exercise!

Coming into today’s competition, Sally Wagstaff & Gulliver held the lead in the league table and they consolidated their lead with a comprehensive win ahead of Emily Lumb & Rorie. Tanya Mutch & Rodeea Noah who were experiencing their first JumpCross competition claimed third.

Oliver Meilke & Foxy made their previous experience count in the junior Section taking first place ahead of Heidi Grice on Corky and Jasmin Loakes and Killoughter Flash.

The next competition date is Saturday 20 October, so if you need some practice in the meantime, why not attend a training day – see the website for more details.

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