Maisy Williams overcomes the odds to land the Junior Grand Prix at Compiegne’s Youth Festival
Wednesday 03 May 2023
Maisy Williams showed nerve and skill in equal measures to take the Junior Grand Prix with Guy Williams’ Devil VD To Jo Pe Hoeve at the Youth Festival in Compiegne, France.
Maisy had already endured the lows when the first round of the Junior Nations Cup didn’t go according to plan. But she showed nerves of steel to bounce back from elimination after Devil took exception to the second fence to jump clear in the second round.
“I have no idea why he did that as he’s very straight, but we are still a very new partnership – this was only our fifth show together – and I just had to forget it. I didn’t ride any differently in the second round and he jumped clear,” said Maisy. “He’s sharp but easy and has a great character; he wants to be first out of the stable and getting on with the job.”
That grit was again on show in the final day’s Grand Prix as she tackled the 1.40m track with gusto. It was all about the clock as 24 of the original 79 competitors returned for a hot, competitive jump-off. Maisy’s father Guy Williams is known as ‘The Master of Faster’ and was on hand for advice. But Maisy was on her own in the ring and had the spirit to pull off a win. She didn’t miss a beat, guiding the Quasimodo Z 15-year-old Devil into tight lines at optimum speed to land victory by 0.86 seconds.
“I was third to go out of 24, I had to do something special. Again, I didn’t change how I rode him, I just trusted him. He’s careful and I was travelling, taking one less stride down the distances,” said Maisy. “The hardest part was waiting it out as the rest jumped!”
Fellow British competitors also jumped double clears. Noora von Bülow slipped Sharifa Von Bülow’s Balinsky into sixth, Poppy Deakin claimed eighth on Felicity Deakin’s Qlicious and Phoebe Farman steered Tracy Priest’s Iniesta into ninth.
Image Credit: Agence Ecary
