Rachel Proudley thrills crowds with her 128cm Championship win
Saturday 08 October 2016
Rachel Proudley got day four at the Horse of Year Show off to a thrilling start with a memorable victory in the Barfoot-Saunt 50th Wedding Anniversary 128cms Championship.
Riding the 15-year-old skewbald mare Painted Lady IV - a surprise Christmas present for Rachel from her family three years ago - she had a captivated audience at Birmingham's NEC gripped by her superb dsplay.
Painted Lady's quirky nature - she bucked after almost every fence in round one - made her a supremely popular winner, and 11-year-old Rachel, who is from the village of Kildale in North Yorkshire, could not have been happier.
"She is really naughty sometimes," Rachel said. "She was bucking loads, so it was quite hard because she kept knocking herself out of her stride.
"She doesn't buck all the time. I don't know why she was doing it today, I just think she was excited. You have just got to put up with it! You can't really do anything about it in the ring."
Rachel's jump-off time of 33.72 seconds proved just enough to edge Thomas Francis Jones, riding Majorjack, into second place, while Scottish challenger Natasha Hamilton finished third on Koda.
"I didn't know if I had got it until I landed after the last fence. I really wasn't sure whether I had won or not," Rachel added. "I am really thrilled. I can't believe it.
"There were some quite tight turns in the jump-off, and because she has got a short stride she just turns instead of travelling more, so it suited her."
For full results http://results.scgvisual.com/2016/birmingham/r7.html
AUDIO WITH RACHEL PROUDLEY, WINNER OF THE BARFOOT-SAUNT 50th WEDDING ANNIVERSARY 128cms CHAMPIONSHIP AT THE HORSE OF THE YEAR SHOW IN BIRMINGHAM
http://www.lloydbell.co.uk/access/client_zone/Rachel%20Proudley.mp3
