Richard Barton Secures Victory in the Senior Foxhunter Second Round at South View Equestrian Centre
Tuesday 12 July 2016
Richard Barton from Bradford, West Yorkshire took on the Senior Foxhunter Second Round at South View Equestrian Centre and won, taking home a qualification for one of the most prestigious national finals with a guaranteed appearance at Horse of the Year Show at the NEC, Birmingham, in October.
On the final day of South View Equestrian Centre’s Second Round Show, fifty-six starters got the action underway in the Senior Foxhunter but only five combinations were able to produce a clear in the first two rounds, making for a close fought final jump off.
Drawn as the penultimate rider to go, Richard watched the first three combinations come home with four faults, making it very evident he needed to pull a clear out of the bag. And that is just what he did, not only steering Gaye Hartley’s 8 year-old grey mare, Donata, carefully round the course to produce a triple clear but doing so in a lightning fast time of 30.43 seconds.
Second place was taken by Louise Whitaker from Huddersfield, West Yorkshire riding 8 year-old chestnut mare, Udget Du Rozel, owned by Team Harmony Llc. This pair posted the only other triple clear of the competition to cross the finish line in 32.94 seconds.
The other three combinations in the jump-off, narrowly missed out on a Championship place but will have another shot as they go through to the Foxhunter Masters at the National Showjumping Championships, Stoneleigh, in August for another chance at qualifying for HOYS.
South View Equestrian Centre – Sunday 10th July 2016
Senior Foxhunter Second Round
1st Richard Barton & Donata – 0/0/0 – 30.43 seconds
2nd Louise Whitaker & Udget Du Rozel – 0/0/0 – 32.94 seconds
3rd Ailsa Black & Indy IV – 0/0/4 – 32.00 seconds
4th Louise Whitaker & Leen OL – 0/0/4 – 32.09 seconds
5th Louise Alston & Mack the Knife – 0/0/4 – 33.12 seconds
NB: Qualifications will be updated pending official grading of results.