Having travelled to Bramham International Horse Trials for many years to watch and support her mum, Mary, 2018 was the time to shine for Emily King when taking the British Horse Feeds Under 25 CCl3* National Championship.
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Emily led from start to finish on Jane Del Missier’s Dargun, after a stunning dressage performance, clear cross-country and expertly crafted show jumping round.

Riding with poise and steely confidence, Emily’s clear over Di Boddy’s technical and up to height track saw her finish on the 25.5 score she posted for her dressage on Friday.

Dargun, a 10-year-old by Valliant, showed no signs of fatigue from Saturday’s superb effort across the country – in fact Emily reported he was positively frisky on his leg stretch that morning before the final horse inspection. 
As she entered the ring, she knew she couldn’t afford a single pole down as French rider Thibault Fournier had gone clear with Siniani de Lathus to climb to second from third place and pile on the pressure.

It was a heart stopping moment when the duo rattled the first fence but it stayed in place and afterwards they gave every rail space to leave them all standing to finish on the dressage score she posted on Friday, the only rider to do so in the section.
Emily’s boyfriend Sam Ecroyd ended up third with Vicki Irlam’s Master Douglas who rose from fifth to third with a clear on a final score of 32.1. 

A delighted Emily said: “He felt amazing.  When I got on him in the warm-up he was bucking and squealing — it helps him with his spring and attention if he’s a bit jolly.

“He jumped well in the warm-up and carried that through into the ring. The crowd helps him rather than distracting him and the fences were quite spooky here, which helps too. He jumped consistently and was very focused so I couldn’t be happier with him.”

Added Will I’Anson of British Horse Feeds: “We have had a fantastic time at Bramham, from watching the trot-up at the Fibre-Beet Inspection Area, to those tackling the Speedi-Beet Double Feat on cross-country day, then the Speedi-Beet HOYS Grade C in the show jumping and finally presenting the top prize to Emily in the British Horse Feeds Under 25 National Championships".
 
“The whole event has been superb and we would like to thank the team at Bramham International for hosting such a magnificent event in Yorkshire.”

Bottom Left Picture: Will I’Anson of British Horse Feeds with Under 25 National Champion, Emily King and Dargun.

CIC3*, incorporating the FEI Eventing Nations Cup

With the last few horses doing their dressage this morning Great Britain completed the first phase at the head of the ​FEI Eventing Nations Cup leaderboard, with a cumulative score of 88.0. Holly Woodhead performed the best test for the British team to lie in sixth place individually.

Germany sat in second place on 89.2 penalties with Sweden third on 95.6. Individually, Pippa Funnell held first and second places on MGH Grafton Street and Billy Beware respectively.
The showjumping phase shaked the order up a little. Funnell remains in the lead, but on Billy Beware. A rail down dropped MGH Grafton Street to sixth place ahead of tomorrow's cross country. Laura Collett and Mr Bass have climbed two places to second, and Woodhead now sits in third.
From a team perspective Great Britain and Germany had no penalties to add. Sweden has dropped a place to fourth with Ireland moving up to third. The USA lies in fifth and, with 20 penalties to add, New Zealand are sixth.

CCI2*
Brook Staples (AUS) and Thomas Carlile's (FRA) Atos Barbotiere dropped out of contention during today's cross country phase. Staples was eliminated after three refusals, while Carlile's fifth placed ride collected 31 jumping penalties for both a refusal and the breaking of a safety clip on one of the fences.
Carlile continues to lead the field with Upsilon, Piggy French still breathing down his neck a mere 0.2 of a penalty behind. Gemma Tattersall completes the top three on Chilli Knight.

CCI1*
Of the overnight top five after dressage, only Caroline Harris came unstuck across country – she suffered a rider fall at the final fence, having jumped clear to that point. Dirk Schrade (Dajara ), Jesse Cambell (Diachello), Piggy French (Highdown March) and Tom Jackson (Clonlaras Chacoa Princess) all came home clear and inside the time. Schrade has a two-and-a-half penalty advantage over Campbell, but with the fall of a showjump rail incurring four penalties there is still much to play for. Schrade can afford to have one rail down and stay ahead of both French and Jackson.

NAF British Eventing under 21 National Championships
Bubby Upton has retained her 1-2 after the cross country phase, keeping a clean sheet on both Cola III and Eros DHI. She also jumped clear on her third ride in the class, Cannavaro, who has climbed up from 13th to seventh. Yasmin Ingham has moved up a place to third on Rehy DJ, with less than a showjump separating the top three horses.

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Japanese riders were the dominant force in both of the one-star classes at Fairfax & Favor Rockingham Intenational today. Toshiyuki Tanaka claimed section A with Riding Club Crane's Kinnordy Rhondo, a 10-year-old horse of Australian origin.

“He is a very good jumper but strong. The [optimum] time was tight today so I had to really ride fast,” said Tanaka.
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The pair posted a dressage score completion, as did compatriot Ryuzo Kitajima who finished third on board Feroza Nieuwmoed, also owned by Riding Club Crane. Ryuzo has been riding this horse since the middle of 2016, and finished last season with a very competitive 11th place in the British Eventing seven-year-old championships at Osberton.

Separating the two was Holly Woodhead on Hakuna Matata.

Kitajima topped the leaderboard in the second one-star section, which bodes well for the ever-improving standard of Japanese eventing ahead of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. This time he was partnering Riding Club Crane's Koko Doro. The partnership did complete a couple of three-star competitions last season and finished fourth in a one-star at Chatsworth last weekend.

Kitajima said of his horse, “He is a good dressage horse but [can be] difficult in the show jumping – he has a lot of individuality, but [I'm delighted] today we jumped double clear.”

Again the double act was in action, with Tanaka taking fourth place on Balla Star Bay behind Piggy French riding Emerald Jonny in second and Line Andresen (SWE) on Faere Spirit in third.
All four of these Japanese horses are qualified for this year's Asian Games, and both riders are also keen to represent Japan at the World Equestrian Games this summer.

Piggy French was back in the ribbons in the first of the two-star sections, taking the spoils on Susannah Paybody's Castletown Clover, another combination to add nothing to their first phase score. She nearly made it a double, having to settle for the runner up spot in the second two-star on board Jennifer Saunders' Cooley Monsoon due to an uncharacteristic dislodged showjump rail.

“Castletown Clover has gone great today,” said Piggy. “I only started riding him over the winter. He began his career with his owner at 90 and 100cm level, and then over the last couple of years Hannah (Norville, who works for Piggy) moved him up through the grades to intermediate. He's 13 now so credit to Susannah and him to let me jump him bigger and faster. We hadn't planned beyond Rockingham because we didn't know how he'd cope – this was his 'Badminton'. We may need to rethink – he made it feel easy.”

Piggy was as delighted for Hannah Norville's third place in this section on Magic Roundabout IV. It was Hannah's first ever two-star competition and Piggy explained: “She is so loyal and hardworking. She's the one who rides 'my' horses at home when I'm away at an event, and I'm so proud of her today.”

Richard Coney and Master Ping were just over a penalty off the pace behind Piggy to take the runner up spot.

Today's final two-star went to a 2017 winner, James Avery (NZL). This year he was riding Vitali, a horse he describes as the best he has ever had. “He has lots of talent but is a bit arrogant. Last year we led the 7-year-old World Championships at Le Lion d'Angers until the showjumping where we had two rails down. He gets distracted in the arena – when he's focussed he's great. Today he was focussed.”

With Piggy and Cooley Monsoon in second place, Sammi Birch (AUS) completed the top three on The Kincooley Ceili.

The last class today [Saturday] was the under 18 open novice section which was won by Zoe Embury riding Orlando. Friday's BE100 winners were Charlotte Bacon (Cosmos du Figuier), Franky Reid-Warrilow (Tillington Jet Setter), Alyson Parker (J J Malone), James Avery (Seaflower) and Kelly Aldous (Willow BDA). Novice sections went to Giovanni Ugolotti (Swirly Temptress), Ros Canter (DHI Jura) and Isabel White (Brilliant Twilight).