NAF Five Star Summer Bronze League Championship goes to Alistair White & Hanleen O Tess
Wednesday 07 October 2020
Fifteen combinations made it through to the jump off for the NAF Five Star Summer Bronze League Championship at the British Showjumping Indoor Championships which is playing host to many of the key national finals between the 6 – 11 October at the prestigious Aintree Equestrian Centre.
For Alistair White, it was well worth the trip from Falkirk in Scotland with his 12 year-old mare Hanleen O Tess when they secured the win to claim the title as their own. The ninth rider to come forward in the jump off they certainly made their mark when they broke the finish line in a time of 37.58 seconds to push ahead of Katherine McKellar who had taken an earlier lead in a time of 38.71 seconds with RJM Lucky Lad.
Alistair, who starts his day riding at 5am before heading to work as a lorry driver in the day, left no stone unturned when on a fast past to the last they took out a stride to the final fence to post a time that proved unbeatable by the rest of the field to come after him. Claire Davies with Arcorana took 3rd place behind Claudia with a time of 38.72 seconds as the only other rider to jump clear and break the 39 seconds barrier.
Talking afterwards a delighted Alistair commented “Fluffy, as we call her at home, is just such a lovely horse. She’s so easy to do and she just likes to win, she tries her hardest all the time and she’s such a careful mare. This has been my biggest win, that’s for sure, and I couldn’t be happier. I have had her for four years and she came from local breeder Hannah Aird shortly after I had lost a horse. It really was a case of being in the right place at the right time”.
About the show, his preparation for it and the future he said “We were late coming back to competition in Scotland and I’ve only been able to do about four shows before coming here as sport only opened up about a month ago. Fortunately she came back more or less as she went off so I’ve been lucky. Shows are different now naturally, but we are all adapting to the changes and I think we are all just keen to get showjumping again and happy to the follow the guidleines that are there. My plans for the rest of the year include coming back here next month for the Amateur & Veteran Championships and then targeting the Bronze League again next year. I like the league system, they suit me and I targeted the Bronze League last year so couldn’t be happier to win it this”.
RESULTS:
1st Alistair White & Hanleen O Tess - 0/0 - 37.58 seconds
2nd Katherine McKellar & RJM Lucky Lad - 0/0 - 38.71 seconds
3rd Claire Davies & Arcorana - 0/0 - 38.72 seconds
4th Claudia Harding & Oberon van’t Breenhof - 0/0 - 39.83 seconds
5th Kim Webster & Melodie Fureen - 0/0 - 41.56 seconds
6th Lucy Hubbard & Global Star II - 0/0 - 41.72 seconds
Image courtesy of Majestic Photography.
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