14 september 2013
British Carriagedriving National Championships Ashfields
Despite wet ground conditions there were some sparkling dressage performances among the 124 turnouts at Ashfields Carriage Driving Centre, Essex where the British Carriagedriving National Championships began on Thursday. Paul Hart put the intermediate horse drivers under pressure with the best singles’ score, 33.87; advanced single horses were shown the way by Maxine ingham, 39.36, and dressage diva Anna Grayston topped the advanced pony pairs, 36.91. Boyd Exell took an 18-point lead in horse fours, 32.2.Last minute changes to the marathon section lengths and the loss of obstacle one led to some competitors in the earlier singles classes having difficulties with timings and their penalties were later removed. The attractively decorated obstacles were up to national championship standard and drove well and the Indoor Carriage Driving Club’s smart new temporary obstacle was appreciated, too. All seven obstacles were easy to view and a vociferous crowd enjoyed the spectacle throughout the day. Drivers took care and most adjusted their speed to the conditions, experience showing – although there were minor mishaps and a few withdrawals.
Gary Picken and Nick Hammond built significant leads in the novice horse and pony classes as did Alice Pritchard and Tracey Fletcher, intermediate and open pony., whereas Roger Campbell, advanced pony, has only 0.64 penalties in hand (despite driving the fastest marathon, 63.93) over his closest three rivals going into cones. Advanced horse driver Jock McFarlane has one cone and a squeak over Matt Were, returning undaunted after his Sandringham tip up and winning his class’ marathon. Favourite Sue Mayes, pony tandem, and Sara Howe, pony fours, remain ahead and most of the other classes’ results are more generously spread. After Saturday’s pasta night Fred Pendlebury, horse tandem, and Boyd Exell must sleep the sweetest of all with a lead of 39 and almost 30 penalties respectively according to the provisional scores.
Fiona Powell
