Leading amateur, Arianna Kuligowski, makes winning return to Hickstead
Friday 23 June 2023
.jpg "Leading amateur, Arianna Kuligowski, makes winning return to Hickstead")
Few young riders have enjoyed quite as much consistent success in Hickstead’s International Arena in recent years as 22-year-old Arianna Kuligowski, who took the 1.10m Amateur Championship for the third time today at the Al Shira’aa Hickstead Derby Meeting.
Her win came courtesy of Horsepower Motor Centre Ltd’s Ivascalle, a 10-year-old Dutch Warmblood mare. “I think she just loves it in there,” said Tonbridge-based Arianna. “Every single time she goes in there she does well – she clearly goes in there and feels like she has to rise to the occasion.”
Even with the confidence of prior wins behind her –?which also include winning the Science Supplements Grand Slam for a duo of wins in the 1.20m amateur classes at Hickstead’s September fixture in 2021 –?Arianna knew she’d have a tough job on her hands in today’s class. Twelve combinations jumped clear in the first round, putting the pressure on each competitor to deliver a fast, clean jump-off –?something just six of them managed.
Arianna crossed the finish line in 28.51sec, just over half a second faster than second-placed Elisha Simmons and Avalon du Carpont. “I was like, ‘this is going to be a really fast jump off!’, but luckily I was ninth to go, so I had a little time to just watch a couple and see how fast it was,” added Arianna. “And it was really fast! So, I had no choice but to not take one pull [for an extra stride], or otherwise I was going to be nowhere. I'm just so happy – she deserves it so much. She just tries her heart out every single time for me.”
Arianna got Ivascalle as a three-year-old from the Brightwells Sale. “I got her when she was unbroken, and we’ve had her all the way through. She did the age classes in the main ring and she's done well through them all. Now she's going in there as a produced horse winning and carrying on that success. There's a lot of presence in that arena, so they've got to feel confident in you to then go and jump as well as they would in a calm, quiet environment. Then they can feed off that confidence, and the next time that they go in there, they'll be like, ‘okay, cool, I trust you’. But that's what you build up over the years: the partnership that you form together, which is lovely when it actually pays off and you have that wonderful bond together.”
The Al Shira’aa Hickstead Derby Meeting takes place from 22-25 June at Hickstead in West Sussex. Tickets are available online or at the gate, and the action will also be shown live on Hickstead.TV and ClipMyHorse.TV.
Image: Julian Portch
