The affiliated British Dressage and unaffiliated championship qualifier at Ladyleys drew a strong turnout of riders to Oldmeldrum.
In the British Dressage (BD) classes, 16-year-old Lauren Watson, achieved a double of wins on her Welsh part-bred gelding, Anrheithf Arch Mr Monteray.
Lauren, of Pitcaple, has owned seven-year-old ‘Monty’ since July.
Bred out of the Welsh mare Pantyfid Nansi, Monty was sired by the German warmblood stallion Mandingo and although dressage is proving to be their strong point, they also compete across both showjumping and eventing disciplines.
Lauren took the top affiliated placings in both the Prelim 14 and restricted Novice 30 tests on scores of 66.3% and 60.4% respectively.
She hopes to achieve a place on the British Young Riders Dressage Squad.
Also taking a restricted BD win, this time from the Novice 28, was Rothienorman rider Karen Campbell, who admitted to feeling a “tad rusty” despite her winning performance.
Her winner Sydenham Inula, also brings Welsh bloodlines to the fore.
Karen purchased the daughter of Llanarth British Lion, out of Sydenham Agrimony, from the Durris Stud as a five-year-old.
“Inula has had a successful showing career with various in hand and ridden championships under her belt, and a few years ago we diversified from showing into some low level BE with completions at Strathallan, Burgie and Scotsburn,” explained Karen.
They made the leap to affiliated BD two years ago.
Warming up with a second placing from the open affiliated Elementary 49 class, Auchnagatt’s Victoria Gladwyn and her aptly named Super Star progressed to achieve the highest level win of the day in the Medium 69 test.
‘Max’ an Anglo-European bred Sports Horse, was sired by the Crackenthorpe Stud’s Celtic Laurus.
The rising nine-year-old, out of Ladybird, has been with Victoria for the last two years.
“The original plan had been to event Max, however he’s shown a bit of a talent for dressage,” she said, having developed him from Prelim level to flying changes in a relatively short time.
With more than 70 BD points to his credit, Max has achieved qualifications to the Pet Plan Area Festival Championships at Hartpury and Scottish BD Championships, each at Elementary open level.
His results at Ladyleys also provided the duo with their first Morris EC/TSF qualifying tickets, and Victoria said she plans to travel south to contest the championship final, whilst working up to advanced medium level with help from trainer Paul Hayler.
Meanwhile, both the restricted elementary 49 and the freestyle to music test at medium level were won by Netherley’s Jane Eddie and her eight-year-old Welsh D gelding, Balhagarty Lord Thomas.
Bred at the Balhagarty Stud out of Coldwell Cumbrian Lady, this son of Llansantffraed Owen Coch has had considerable recent success in the BD arena, gaining qualifications to the Winter Regionals in the restricted sections of both elementary and medium to music.
He also missed out on an elementary restricted qualifying ticket for the PetPlan finals by a whisker, taking third place at the October qualifier by a margin of only 0.36%.
Jane trains regularly with Hannah Moody, British Team young rider Eilidh Grant, and with Sandra Morrison.
“The coming year will really be geared towards gaining qualification for the Summer Regionals at elementary restricted and the PetPlan finals at medium restricted,” she said.
She said although Lord Thomas produced a strong Elementary performance at Ladyleys, she threw away “some silly marks” thanks to being “a bit competition rusty” as it was their first contest since the autumn.
“The medium music didn’t go to plan as I got behind the music, but thankfully that has given me time to adapt my test before the Winter Regionals,” she added.
Results
Intro B junior: 1 Mollie Childs, Silver Phoebe of Birnam, 62.2; 2 Murron Stewart, Glider, 59.1. Intro B senior: 1 Moira Gregg, Hugo, 68.7; 2 Sanchia May, Ffantasi, 62.2; 3 Kirsten Birnie, Glen Bruar Beinn Losgarnach, 59.1.
Intro A junior: 1 Mollie Green, Edenside Eden, 67.8; 2 Evie Craigie, Riothamus Rioja, 66.1; 3 Mollie Childs, Silver Phoebe of Birnam, 65.2. Intro A senior: 1 Moira Gregg, Hugo, 74.3; 2 Jayne Emery, Xalonia HS, 65.7; 3 Elspeth More, Charlotte, 65.2.
Prelim 7 (Morris/TSF qualifier): 1 Emma Cheyne, Little Trouble, 71.5; 2 Robyn Gibb, Balhagarty Narnia, 68; 3 (equal) Viv Law, Balhagarty Kestral, and Jayne Emery, Xalonia HS, 67.5. Prelim 7 (non-qualifier): 1 Mollie Green, Edenside Eden, 70.5; 2 Sophie Scott, Auchinieve Astro, 62.5; 3 Murron Stewart, Glider, 59.1.
Prelim 14 (unaff) junior: 1 Robyn Gibb, Balhagarty Narnia, 62.5. Prelim 14 (unaff) senior: 1 Emma Cheyne, Little Trouble, 67.9; 2 Morven Gibb, Overhall Elfin, 64.2; 3 Viv Law, Balhagarty Kestral, 63.8. Prelim 14 BD: 1 Lauren Watson, Anrheithf Arch Mr Monteray, 66.3; 2 Tracey Stuart, Low Town Boy, 65.4.
Novice 28 (Morris/TSF qualifier): 1 Phoebe Smith, Loanhead Apache, 72.5; 2 Jo Hedges, Comer Coal, 70.4; 3 Sammy Cardno, Counter Point, 68.8. Novice 28 (non-qualifier): 1 Connor Rankin, The Best Ben, 70. Novice 28 BD (rest): 1 Karen Campbell, Sydenham Injula, 64.6. Novice 28 BD (open): 1 Nicky Heale, Retenach Request, 75.
Novice 30 (unaff) junior: 1 Connor Rankin, The Best Ben, 62.3; 2 Sammy Cardno, Counter Point, 60.8. Novice 30 (unaff) senior: 1 Susan Reid, Moonlight Shimmer, 64.6; 2 Lauren Reid, Wembley, 62.3; 3 Jo Hedges, Comer Coal, 61.6. Novice 30 BD (rest): 1 Lauren Watson, Anrheithf Arch Mr Monteray, 60.4; 2 Karen Campbell, Sydenham Inula, 57.7.Novice 30 BD (open): 1 Nicky Heale, Retenach Request, 63.3.
Elementary 44 (Morris/TSF qualifier): 1 Mandy Sall, Drumcarrow Domino, 68.8; 2 Emma Cheyne, Sgt Pepper, 60.8. Elementary 44 BD: Caroline Simmers, Knockleith Eureka, 69.4.
Elementary 49 (unaff): 1 Mandy Sall, Drumcarrow Domino, 67; 2 Emma Cheyne, Sgt Pepper, 59.7. Elementary 49 BD (rest): 1 Jane Eddie, Balhagarty Lord Thomas, 65.8. Elementary 49 BD (open): 1 Caroline Simmers, Knockleith Eureka, 70.8; 2 Victoria Gladwyn, Super Star, 66.
Freestyle Music Medium: 1 Jane Eddie, Balhagarty Lord Thomas, 61.5.
Medium 69 (Morris/TSF qualifier): 1 Victoria Gladwyn, Super Star, 64.8.