Fourteen-year-old eventing rider Thomas Tulloch added an impressive third 2014 championship title to his belt at Brand Hall at the weekend, taking out the Charles Owen British Pony Championship.
Thomas, from Oswestry in Shropshire, also hold the 2014 Baileys Horse Feeds Novice, and 2014 Open JAS (Jumping And Style) Championship titles with Spirit VI.
The weekend’s Charles Owen British Pony Championships near Market Drayton in Shropshire hosted a competitive field of more than 30 riders from around the country.
Thomas, riding on Jancis Tulloch’s bay gelding Spirit VI (16 years old of unknown breeding) won on a final score of 53.6, posting a strong dressage score of 48.8, rolling one pole in the show jumping but it was their fast time across the country that proved influential. Thomas posted the quickest time in the class across country adding just 0.8 time penalties to climb up the leaderboard to take prime position.
Commenting on his experience Thomas said: “Spirit felt fantastic and tried his heart out all weekend. The cross country course asked a lot of questions but he was totally focused throughout. I knew time would be influential so I pushed on. All our fitness work really paid off on the day”.
In second and fourth place was the consistent 15 year old Isabelle Upton from Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk, riding Alfie XI and Howen Loganberry. Lucy Scholl from Nottingham was third on Helen Scholl’s 11 year old Mister Mackey.
The long list for the 2014 Charles Owen Pony squad to represent Britain at this year’s FEI Pony European Championships in Ireland from July 30 to August 3 will be made later this week.
Bourne based Constance Copestake and her own mare Aprobanta led the way on a dressage score of 38.10 to win the Racesafe National Under-18 Championship title. Four faults in the show jumping were not enough to knock her off the top spot after a faultless cross country round, resulting in a final score of 42.10.
Constance and her chestnut mare kept a narrow .70 margin ahead of second placed Sam Ecroyd and Wodan IV who also gained four faults in their show jumping round to finish on 42.80.
The 17 year old is currently studying for her A-level exams and is completing an Advanced Apprenticeship in Sporting Excellence (AASE) at Hartpury College. Constance said of her win: “I’m still in shock. I didn’t know what to expect because this was Aprobanta’s first three day event and I didn’t know how she would be on the last day.”
The nine year old KWPN mare by Karandasj has had a stellar career to date, netting two CIC one star wins with Constance at Chatsworth and Aldon and winning a silver medal with Rosalind Canter at the 2011 FEI World Eventing Championships for Young Horses as a six year old.
Constance is from a non-horsey family and was hooked on horse riding after a friend’s fourth birthday party at her local riding school. The teenager is now concentrating on finishing her exams and will take a year out with the intention of focusing on horses.
“The long term view is to go to top level. This year my plans depend on whether I am long-listed for the Junior team. Plan B is to move up to two star level with Aprobanta.”
Charles Owen National Pony Championships top 10:
1 SPIRIT VI Mr Thomas Tulloch 53.60
2 ALFIE XI Miss Isabelle Upton 54.70
3 MASTER MACKY Miss Lucy Scholl 57.10
4 HOWEN LOGANBERRY Miss Isabelle Upton 57.80
5 MR OTTO Miss Phoebe Locke 59.30
6 BOBNAMARA Mr Oliver Williams 60.50
7 NONO Mr Richard Coney 61.10
8 KNOCKBEG FLASH Miss Johanna Pohjonen 65.30
9 RED DANDY Miss Lucy Robinson 71.10
10 SYCAMORE LAD Miss Hannah Graves 53.4
Racesafe National Under-18 Championships top 10:
1 Constance Copestake with Aprobanta
2 Sam Ecroyd with Wodan IV
3 Tintin Belsham with Supreme Watts
4 Storm Straker with Well Designed
5 Katie Bleloch with Bulano
6 Harriet Upton with Carraigh Dubh
7 Ella Hitchman with Rocky Rockstar
8 Tintin Belsham with Stormhill Michael
9 Flora Lickiss with George V
10 Kristina Hall-Jackson with Lemington Lets Dance
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