SAYWELL SHINES YET AGAIN IN THE INTERNATIONAL STAIRWAY
Thursday 31 July 2014
Louise Saywell won her second International Stairway of the series yesterday with Sarah Hancock and Graham Lovegrove’s 13 year-old chestnut stallion Mr Darcy V. Taking 1st place saw them not only collect the lion share of the £7,500 prize fund at stake but also accrue a further 12 points on the League Table to take pole position on 27 points.
Yesterday’s course had been designed by Steve Williams and it’s forward rolling distances caught competitors out at both the combination and the double as a result of them jumping in just a little too deep. It was only Louise and Mr Darcy along with Mark Edwards from Cowbridge and his own Tinkers Tale that managed to achieve a clear in the first round.
Coming forward in reverse order in the jump off, Louise was in the enviable position of being last to go as a result of having jumped clear in the fastest time. With the format of the competition inviting all clears or a minimum of five competitors they were joined by the three riders who had produced the fastest rounds with the least faults.
Clears in the jump off weren’t quite scarce as they were in the first round but with both Louise and Mark jumping clear once again it meant their performance was enough to retain the top two positions that they had secured in the first round. It was Louise though who once again managed to cover the ground slightly quicker in a time of 43.55 seconds shaving more than two seconds off Mark’s time of 46.21 seconds to take first place.
The third clear, and subsequent third place went to Nigel Coupe from Preston and Susan Simmon’s 11-year old bay gelding Golvers Hill. Nigel, who was already featuring high up on the league table now moves into 3rd place on 24 points, just 3 points behind Louise and 2 points behind Graham Lovegrove.
Julie Andrews with Eva Bjorkman’s Ayrton IV took 4th place with their 8 penalty finish whilst Alfie Bradstock from Oxon with Graham Fletcher's bay gelding Caicos took 5th on a finish score of 13 penalties.
League Table Results including New Forest with just two legs to go are as follows:
1st Louise Saywell / Mr Darcy 27 points
2nd Graham Lovegrove / Alfie 123 26 points
3rd Nigel Coupe / Golvers Hill 24 points
4th Tim Davies / Valentijn O 21 points
5th Robert Bevis / Pebbles IV 17 points
6th Tim Page / Santa Cruise 16 points
