Arena UK hosts Welcome to Yorkshire Qualifiers

Arena UK, in Grantham, Lincoln played host to two Welcome to Yorkshire qualifiers at their senior premier show last weekend.

 

Friday saw eighty two starters fight it out for the top two qualifying places in the Welcome to Yorkshire Winter Grade C Qualifier and with less than a second separating the top five places it was a hard fought competition.

 

It was twenty year old Reece Oliver from Nottingham riding his own nine year old bay mare Veroniek II that came out on top with a super jump off round, clear in a time of 29.03 seconds. Second position and the other qualifying ticket went Simon Crippen from Chesham in Buckinghamshire who rode Jenny Bingham’s nine year bay gelding Louis Latour. The combination jump a very competitive clear round but were just shy of the top spot coming home in a time of 29.23 seconds.

 

The big competition on the Sunday was the Welcome to Yorkshire Jump Qualifier which qualifies for the final at the Yorkshire International Showjumping Event in April. Thirty seven starters jumped the first round with ten combinations jumping the clear and making it though to the jump off. It was Huddersfield based twenty one year old Joe Clayton that took the top spot on Jes Nielsen’s British Bred ten year old chestnut stallion, Mr Darcy V. The pair jumped an unbeatable clear in a time of 30.83 seconds. Second place went to twenty four year old Anthony Condon who is based in Nantwich. Riding Rachel Steel’s eight year old dark bay mare Wild Thing, Anthony came home clear in a time of 34.67 seconds. The only other double clear was Martin Arnott from Johnstone near Glasgow. Riding Gavin Russell’s nine year old roan stallion Don’t Go, the combination jumped a safe clear in a time of 36.11 seconds which was good enough for third place.