Female Riders Reign Supreme at The Mitsubishi Cup. (Almost)

We are back at Badminton for the Mitsubishi Motors Cup. Since it started in 2010, (as the Grassroots Championships before its name change in 2016) these championships have gone from strength to strength and have become so successful that they have been completely integrated with the whole Badminton event. The Championships are run for amateurs, giving them the opportunity to compete and ride at this most iconic venue. Competition level is in two:The BE 90 and BE 100. There were 78 listed to start in the BE 100 and 108 in the BE 90. The competition lasts over two days.

The weather can be foul for this part of The Badminton Horse Trials, but this year, it has been kinder. Not the warmest of days, but thankfully really quite benign. Only a bit of rain in the middle of the day, but no wind. Hooray!!!!!

The competition started with all the 186 competitors doing their dressage test, followed by the showjumping element and concluding with the exciting cross country section.

In the BE 100 dressage the judges were Mrs Jenny Loriston-Clarke MBE and Mr Robert Stanier. For the BE 90, the competitors faced Gillian Watson and Amanda Heimans.

The cross country course was a typical course for both BE 100 and BE 90, however, there was one particular set of jumps that were technical and required  excellent riding. Fence 16, the corners. Spectacular to look at but particularly for the BE 90, the second corner was very narrow and needed precision from the rider to have a successful negotiation. unfortunately, there were many who ended up running out.

The winner of the BE 100 was Alana Sparrow riding Angel Spirit with a final score of 25.1 penalty points. In second was Jo Hales riding Dawn Chorus with 25.8 penalty points and third was Ollie Martin riding Martins Irish Eddie, keeping the end up of the male gender!!!His score was 30.6 penalty points. There were 66 finishers with only 9 either eliminated or retired.

In the BE 90, the winner was Laura Greenhalgh riding the coloured horse Stanhopes Travelling Man, no doubt to the delight of Lady Petersham, the breeder of the horse. He won with 24.3 penalty points. Second was Georgie Toole, riding Kissemmie Midnight Magic with 25.9 penalty points. Finally in third, of the 104 starters, was Emma Sutton riding Coltstown Glider with 26.2 penalties.

None of the finishers finished inside the time, and there  were 18 who were either eliminated or retired during the cross country.

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