‘Going for it’ pays off
JCB Pony Club Championships, Offchurch Bury, Warwickshire
THE PC110 individual showjumping championship was a hard-fought battle, with five combinations making it through to the jump-off. But a slick performance from the Vale of Aylesbury branch’s Georgina Beeby-Wynn ensured she scooped victory aboard Affricks Eclipse by 0.4sec.
“He’s been amazing all season so I hoped we could go well, but he’s big so he doesn’t really turn as quickly as you might like; I just had to really go for it,” said Georgina, who is 18 and about to start a sport science degree at Hartpury University.
“I’ve had him for a year and he belongs to Joy Dawes. He is quite straightforward – I just have to work on keeping him going forward, which thankfully worked out today.”
There were 19 clears in the first round and just five clears in the second from 36 starters in that round. And although Georgina’s time was beaten by two other riders, she was the fastest of the triple clears.
The mixed Area 8 team of Kirsty Saunderson, Daisy Minter, Charlie Albert Heapy and Isabelle Lane won the PC110 team competition, despite faults being common throughout the competition.
“We jokingly said at the start we might win, but we never expected to,” said Charlie. “We were on a score of 12 after the first round, but after Kirsty, Daisy and Isabelle jumped clear in the second round, we started to get a bit excited.”
Two teams from the 12 that started the competition made it through to the jump-off. The mixed Area 8 team, who didn’t know each other at all prior to competing, eventually finished on a jump-off score of four, with the Vale of Aylesbury second on eight faults in the jump-off.
“We knew we could be quite speedy but we just had to keep the poles up,” explained Isabelle.
12-YEAR-OLD TOPS THE FIELD
PC100 individual showjumping honours went to Frankie Chart, who is just 12 years old.
“I really didn’t expect it at all,” said the Surrey Union branch member, who was riding the 21-year-old Direct Cruising. “My horse’s last proper competition was in the three-star at Cornbury in 2020 and he is the best horse I could ask for, even if he is a bit of a ‘ginger ninja’.”
There were a whopping 57 starters in this class, with seven combinations jumping double clears to make it into the jump-off. And although a couple of other riders managed to clock faster times than Frankie, her clear round clinched her victory
