Adrian Speight Claims the 2021 National Champion Title
Sunday 08 August 2021
Today saw the British Showjumping International Stairway Final take place and a new national champion crowned in the form of Adrian Speight, riding Millfield Baloney.
From an initial field of over 40 riders it was Adrian Philip Speight and the 15-year-old Millfield Baloney who flew to victory, being one of only two double clears in the entire class. Their time of 48.18s relegated Joe Stockdale, the only other rider to produce a double clear, aboard Cacharel IV to second place with their time of 48.79. Adrian, who is currently heading the national gold league, was awarded his HOYS international invite last week.
Adrian commented on his win: “I thought it was really strong in the first round. The time was tight! If you didn’t make that triple bar by 52 seconds you probably weren’t going to make it. I chanced the oxer coming off the corner and he rattled it but we made it – sometimes you have to just go for it.”
The final also saw the culmination of the International Stairway League that sits behind the series, which was won by Mark Edwards with Montreux Tale as a result of their consistent performances across the series. Mark was also awarded a HOYS international invite last week for sitting in second place in the national Gold League.
With regards to the four HOYS international invitations that were awarded from the show, and as a result of Adrian and Mark having already been awarded their invites, they were extended down the respective lines as follows:
Stairway Final – Joe Stockdale
Stairway League – Timothy Davies
HOYS Show League – Ben Walker
HOYS Show League Under 25 – Joe Fernyhough
For full results
Image: Adrian being presented by David Broome CBE
NB. Int'l Invitation allocation subject to validation.
