It was a successful day for local rider Laura Mantel, who not only stole the show in the Land Rover Grades A & B Jumping Competition, but also finished equal first in the Olympic Star Spotters Competition sponsored by Suregrow Fertiliser Ltd.
A total of 43 combinations started the day’s most prestigious Show Jumping class, the Land Rover Grades A & B Jumping Competition, with 11 horses jumping the 1.40m course clear to go through to the jump-off. With notably fast riders through to the second round, speed was the aim of the game, with the quickest round coming from Ireland’s Trevor Breen, however a fence down kept him from pole position. Keeping up the pace was Berkshire’s Laura Mantel, who produced a faultless round to take the victory in a time of 40.98 aboard the aptly named Glory B V. Lauren Edwards and Ben Walker both put up an excellent challenge, but their times of 41.90 and 42.42 were only good enough for second and third position respectively.
Speaking after the class, Laura said, “It’s absolutely amazing to win at Royal Windsor, I’ve been second here several times over the years, from Showing when I was a kid, to the B & C Jumping a few years ago, but she jumped amazingly today, it’s so brilliant.”
Later in the day, attention turned to the future champions of the sport, with the Olympic Star Spotters Competition for six-year-old horses, sponsored by Suregrow Fertiliser Ltd. With the class aimed at producing the next generation of top horses, a double-clear was all that was required to secure equal first place. Of the 16 riders clear in the first round, 14 secured that all-important second clear, including crowd favourite William Funnell, who was riding the homebred Billy Rhodes, and Japanese rider, Yoshiaki Oiwa, fresh from finishing eighth at Badminton Horse Trials last weekend.
Driving: Boyd Exell heads the field in the Land Rover International Driving Grand Prix
Current World Horse Four-In-Hand Champion, both indoors and out – Boyd Exell from Australia – was awarded first place by each of the five dressage judges in the first phase of the International Driving Grand Prix. This gives him a clear six-point penalty lead over his closest challenger, Theo Timmerman from the Netherlands, putting him in prime position to record his eighth win at Royal Windsor. Timmerman, a previous European Champion and a long-standing member of the record gold medal winning team from Holland, is a regular competitor in the Land Rover International Driving Grand Prix but has yet to come home in first place. 22 horse fours competitors from nine nations will battle it out over the cross-country marathon course, which includes eight formidable obstacles, on Saturday before the final cone driving course on Sunday.
In the pony four-in-hands the field is lead by Jan de Boer from the Netherlands driving his team of Welsh ponies. Last year’s winner, when he claimed his sixth Royal Windsor title, de Boer has a narrow lead of less than two penalties from Jacqueline Walter of Germany. GB’s National Champion, Sara Howe, is the highest placed British competitor in sixth place.