Grand prix grade I champion Susanna Wade was the sole para dressage rider to break into the 70s at the 2024 LeMieux National Dressage Championships today (Thursday 12 September).
Riding Ami Mcclean’s Premier Royal Mint, she scored exactly 70% to win the class by a decisive margin. The 2007 gelding by Royal Hit is a relatively new partner for his rider.
“My trainer, Jess Thompson, found him for me,” explained Susanna. “He’s an advanced horse who needed a bit of an easier life. He hasn’t done much for the last three or four years, and he’s not been here before so I didn’t know how he would react. But the second he gets inside the boards, he knows his job.”
The pair have recently started training with Spencer Wilton, and Susanna was happy that the work she’s been doing at home paid off in the test, commenting that the fluency she achieved was “a high point”. The pair have Wellington CPEDI ahead of them in October, and hope to be in contention for next year’s European Championships.
National Dressage Championships: “I’m really proud – he came out a bit shy, but he’s only six”
Jemima Green was delighted with how six-year-old Fantabulous held it together. Credit: Kevin Sparrow Photography
Jemima Green’s own 2018 gelding Fantabulous stepped up to the plate to secure the grade II grand prix title for his rider. The duo scored 66.33% with their best marks for their walk work.
It is the six-year-old’s first National Dressage Championships.
“It’s his biggest show and he’s only six years old,” explained Jemima. “He came out a little bit shy, but it’s something I expected and he held it together. I’m really proud of him.”
Jemima says she and Fantabulous, stable name Fanta, have been doing lots of groundwork with Alice Oppenheimer to prepare him.
“We’re trying to get him used to high-pressure situations and transfer it to the ridden work,” she said. “It’s a long road to go down, but we’ll practise more and more.”
The pair are also heading to Wellington and have the Europeans in their sights as a goal. Ultimately, Jemima is excited for her young horse’s future.
“He’s definitely got the talent and the temperament,” she says. “There’s not many six-year-olds that can cope on their own – I haven’t got the legs to support him, so he has to be confident.”
In the grade III, Kate Reilly rose to the top by a wide margin with 67.67% on first ride Impulz W, a 2013 Wynton x Rubenstein I gelding owned by Karen Reilly. This improved upon her score with 2009 gelding Lymepark Riggeletto in the same class by more than six percent.
“Each time you come out, you learn something new”
Fiona Maynard describes Denver as “a very cool horse”. Credit: Kevin Sparrow Photography
Despite an uncharacteristic five in a sea of sevens for a mistake in the medium trot, Fiona Maynard and her own Denver IX clinched the grade IV grand prix title in style with 69.23% – giving the pair a comfortable lead of almost a whole percent.
“The accidental canter in the medium trot cost me quite dearly,” said Fiona, “but we still got a great score. I think I just needed him straighter before I pushed him – each time you come out, you learn something new, don’t you. But he’s a very cool horse. His canter work felt really powerful.”
It was love at first ride for Fiona and the 2011 Oldenburg gelding by Dresemann when she bought him two years ago, when she found him to be “a really fun horse with a great sense of humour”. “He was literally in bed before the prizegiving, we were frantically getting him ready!” she added.
Fiona made her able-bodied prix st georges debut earlier this year and hopes to rise to intermediate I in the near future. She also has October’s Wellington CPEDI next on her agenda.
In the grade V championship, Alice Begg took the top spot with Gluckauf, her own 2009 Hanoverian Grand Cru gelding.
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