The pressure was high as a mammoth field of seventy-three competitive combinations were all looking to gain one of the two qualification places on offer for the Championship Final which will be held at the prestigious Royal International Horse Show at Hickstead, West Sussex this summer. With a great standard of jumping on show, twenty-eight combinations provided a clear round to progress through to the jump-off in which thirteen then achieved a double clear, leaving it to the all-important clock to decide the winner.
Following on from her SEIB Winter Novice Qualifier win at Blue Barn Equestrian Centre in January, Emma-Jo Slater delivered another winning foot perfect double clear, this time on board Kim Barzilay’s 8 year-old bay gelding, Kings of Leon. From a late draw, this partnership held their nerve to shave 0.49 seconds off the time of their nearest rivals and they slid in to first place in 32.40 seconds.
Second place went to Johnathan Bowman from Swindon, Wiltshire when he rode Freule TN, a 7 year-old bay mare owned by Mohsin Mohsin to a double clear. This pair stopped the clock in 32.89 seconds.
