Great British rider Ruth Edge finally achieved her hat-trick of wins at the 25th anniversary Blair Castle Barclays International Horse Trials when she topped the 91-strong one-star international novice competition.
Ruth won both the CCI** and CCI*** contests in 1999 and 2003 respectively, so she said she was thrilled to return to Perthshire and add the CCI* to her tally of Blair International wins.
“What’s all the more special is that each of my Blair wins have now been thanks to grey horses,” she said after her clear showjumping round with Time Machine added nothing to a commanding dressage score of 44.7 penalties which saw her take pole position from the get-go.
“He’s been absolutely amazing all weekend,” said Ruth of the nine-year-old gelding, known as Mach2, owned by Joanne Kearns. “I’ve only been riding him since June and this was our first three-day together. He’s such a good jumper.”
Second out on to the cross country on Saturday morning, Ruth had no idea of how hard the course would ride or whether the time would be difficult to achieve.
“He was awesome, though,” she said.
“He started out so strong and a little wayward but, after around about the sixth fence, he really settled into it and he was perfectly fit for the hills.”
Ultimately, Ruth said the time proved relatively easy to get across all of the three-day courses. “The ground was amazing, though, which would certainly have had something to do with that.
“But I loved the new layout, it gave the event a much better atmosphere.”
Ruth, who competes a string of horses from her base in South Derby, had previously achieved a third and two firsts at novice level on Time Machine. Each of their wins was recorded courtesy of a sub-30 dressage lead.
Highest-placed Scot, Emily Galbraith, finished in third spot but was equal in terms of penalty points with Hannah Bate in second.
She rode Catherine Chichester’s “legend” Ginja Ninja II to record a double clear, comfortably inside the time cross country to end on 48.1.
“That’s him now finished for the season,” said Emily, who lives in Roxburghshire. “I’m over the moon with his performance particularly in the showjumping arena, where he can be really spooky. He tried his socks off for me.”
Well and truly holding her own in professional company, the highest of the Courier Country riders was Fife’s Ellen Cameron and her own horse Hanleen Crown Jewels.
Sitting in overnight 15th position, an unlucky rub of a showjump pole saw them slide to 20th on the final leaderboard of 91 starters.
Ellen, from Glenrothes, came to Blair having most recently achieved a 10th in the intermediate novice at Hendersyde and a top 10 spot in the one-day CIC* at Hopetoun international.
They also won this year at Burgham and were second at the grassroots Hopetoun, both at novice level.
“It’s been an amazing weekend,” she commented, “I really liked the cross country, it rode well with forward, positive riding.
“She gave me a fabulous performance, I’m just gutted about the final four penalties.”
In the CCI**, despite a penalised error of course in the dressage arena, New Zealand rider Lizzie Brown also led from start to finish with Henton Attorney General.
Lizzie, 25, who is an NZ young rider champion, won the Horse of the Year and Woodhill Sands three-star before she came over to the UK.
She has owned the Anamour-sired 13-year-old gelding, alongside Tessa Grant, since he was a four-year-old.
“I could kick myself, because I came down the final centre line of the dressage in a fabulous canter and did a perfect halt, only to have the horn buzzed as I should have come down in trot,” said Lizzie.
“Cross country he was also amazing. We found it almost too easy to get the time. I had to keep slowing down as I was getting ahead of myself with my minute markers.”
But it was in the atmosphere of the main arena where Lizzie was barely able to breathe until she crossed the final showjump. “Although he was always amazing at showjumping before we brought him over from New Zealand, he has not been very consistent since he’s been in the UK. He pulled out all of the stops for me in the arena at Blair, though.”
To find the highest-placed Scot on the CCI** leaderboard you didn’t have to glance far down the table.
At the age of just 18, young rider Isabella Innes Ker, from Roxburgh, took fourth position with her mother the Duchess of Roxburghe’s eight-year-old gelding Rosses Captain. Isabella, who won the under-18 national title last year, said it was the “best dressage” this horse has ever done.
“I was quite disappointed with a pole in the showjumping,” she said after dropping from overnight third.
“The ground was the best it’s ever been, though, and the new layout was so much more easy.
“I have to say I couldn’t have done it without my support team, so a big thanks to Ian and Heidi Woodhead and to Andrew Hamilton who warmed me up before I went into the final arena.”
Top local performance, and marking a competitive return to three-day international level, was Stephanie O’Neil’s 15-year-old mare Millridge Auroras Diamond, who finished in 14th overall.
The pint-sized 15.1hh grey mare from Perthshire ate up the cross country, taking strides out of the fences including in front of the main crowd at the water complex.
“We got held early on the course, which is never a good thing for her,” said Stephanie. “In the end she could have gone around three times without running out of petrol.
“She absolutely loves the sport, though. You’ll rarely find a mare that loves eventing more than her.”
The ultimate spoils for the CCI*** competition went again to New Zealand, for Tim Price, who is now based in Wiltshire.
With only 0.2 penalties in-hand going into the final arena it went down to the wire, but a clear showjumping round saw him snatch the win on a penalty of 44.2 from previous Blair winner Niklas Bschorer (44.4), who was on a roll in Scotland, having recently taken the spoils from Hopetoun International.
Tim, who grew up on a farm in Oxford, North Canterbury, on the South Island of New Zealand, previously showjumped to World Cup level before deciding that the majority of the horses he was working with were NZ TBs and naturally more suited to eventing.
His winner was Wesko, a 10-year-old gelding owned by Christina Knudsen, which was “found almost by mistake at the end of a long, cold day in a showjump yard”.
Known as Dash, Tim said he was the star of the show in 2011 by winning from pre-novice through to CIC** and never being out of the top three.
Top Scot was the Borders’ Charlotte Agnew, with Longwood, in seventh, with Fife rider Wills Oakden riding Nicola Robertson’s former Badminton horse McFly to finish ninth.
The lead in the CIC*** was taken from start to finish by Australia’s Lucinda Fredericks, riding Richard Ames’ and her own horse Flying Finish.
equestrian@thecourier.co.uk