Laura Collett has two new three-star rides, Parkfield Quintessential and Finduss PFB.
Both horses belong to Parkfield Breeding and were previously ridden by Holly Woodhead, who has now moved to Ireland to take up a position as team rider at River Lodge Equestrian, a Wexford-based operation producing horses for showjumping and eventing.
Parkfield Quintessential is a 10-year-old by Quicksilber. He started his career under Zoe Wilkinson, achieving good results in British young horse classes and finishing sixth in the World Championships for six-year-olds at Le Lion d’Angers.
He joined Holly Woodhead in 2017 and the pair’s good results included third in the eight- and nine-year-old CIC3* at Blenheim last year.
Laura and Parkfield Quintessential finished second on their first run together in the open intermediate at Great Witchingham on Saturday (30 June). They scored 26.1 in the dressage and added just 1.6 time-faults across country.
“He only arrived at my yard on Monday, so today was not about winning, but about finding out more about each other,” said Laura.
Laura also took sixth in the section on eight-year-old Finduss PFB, who was also competed by Zoe and then Holly. He had top-10 finishes in the CCI* at Tattersalls in 2016 and 2017 and had moved up to start competing at three-star level this year.
“Holly has done an amazing job producing them,” said Laura. “Both of them know exactly what they are doing and felt confident. I was surprised how quick Parkfield Quintessential was as we weren’t going for the time and he was jumping out of his rhythm. I’m really excited to have the rides on both of them.”
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Laura is also riding the six-year-old Hakuna Matata, by Crespo VDL, for Parkfield Breeding. He is aimed at Le Lion in the autumn.
Holly and Sharon Bishop of Parkfield Breeding told H&H: “We’ve had a brilliant time with Holly Woodhead. She’s done a tremendous job with our horses over the past two years. Laura is another super talent and this is the start of an exciting new chapter. Laura shares our ambition, and with a growing string of horses coming up through our breeding programme there’s lots to look forward to.”
