Newly crowned European Young Rider champion Rachel Proudley adds another title to her tally
Thursday 31 July 2025
Fresh from her individual gold medal success at the Young Rider European Championships, Rachel Proudley secured another title at the 2*-W Samorin meeting in Slovakia with HK Stakkata.
“She’s a compact, really powerful mare with a lot of energy and scope and it was great to end week one at Samorin on such a high – I’m looking forward to another week here,” said Rachel.
British riders were on form, taking the top two places in the 27-strong class, Rachel joined by Jessica Hewlett on the podium. Czech course-designer Petr Mazek set a 12-fence, 15-effort 1.45m track with 11 posting first round clears to access the jump-off.
“The course was an up-to-height 1.45m, not trying to catch you out but certainly the toughest track we’d tackled together so far and our first Grand Prix together,” said Rachel. “We went in there with a plan and she jumped super in round one, listening and so confident for a horse so young.”
Super-cool Rachel, riding for HK Horses and breeder Morgan Kent, delivered a smooth and quick round on the seven-year-old mare HK Stakkata (Stakkato Gold x Heartbreaker) to win by 0.42 seconds. Fellow British rider Jessica Hewlett wasn’t far behind for second aboard the 12-year-old Ilmar HBC (Dantos x Voltaire).
“We know she’s naturally quick and had been so in the first round, so going into the jump-off, I felt I could really push and go for it! We took an incredibly tight turn back to the water tray and she flew; I think this and our final gallop to the last just took the edge for us over Jess, who had already posted such a quick time,” added Rachel.
“The HK team breed some phenomenal horses and I’m really fortunatel to be part of their development as their rider. It’s always so exciting to sit on something so talented from the start – she’ll have an exciting future ahead of her, for sure.”
Lance Whitehouse lost out on victory in the Gold Grand Prix and World Cup qualifier by less than half a second and had to settle for the runner-up spot with White Sparke Argo.
Fifty-five came forward to tackle the 13-fence, 16-effort 1.55m course, but technicalities and turnbacks all the way meant only six mastered the track to qualify for the jump-off. Former British rider Jason Smith – now riding for his adopted country Switzerland – claimed the lead with a confident and quick round on the 10-year-old Picobello Van’t Roosakker. Lance immediately followed with the home-bred Argento x Ard Ohio 12-year-old stallion White Sparke Argo and chased the time gamely but came up short by 0.44 seconds to finish in second place.
Jessica Hewlett scored four wins over the week. Ilmar HBC stepped in to provide Jessica with an Under 25 1.40 victory, outpacing 27 rivals to win the speed class with more than two seconds to spare. The eight-year-old Arezzo VDL Mossandro Van Perbeemd supplied a hat-trick for Jessica. She started with a top two in day one’s 1* 1.35m speed, Mossandro taking the win from the 10-year-old King Kong with 3.78 seconds separating the two. Mossandro again proved the quickest in the 56-horse 1* 1.35m two-phase 24 hours later and stepped up to head the concluding 45-strong 1* 1.40m speed by 1.24 seconds.
Emily Ward also posted a win in the initial 2* 1.35m speed, beating 73 challengers to the top spot by almost two seconds on eight-year-old Plot Blue x Quinar mare Millfield Lottery.
Annabel Shields records a double in Millstreet
Annabel Shields enjoyed success in Millstreet 2* in Ireland, conjuring up a winning double.
The Corydon Van T&L 10-year-old Petitfour VD Wareslage topped a 1* 1.30m Grand Prix qualifier for Annabel, edging ahead of their 36 rivals to claim a 0.31 second win.
Annabel claimed two of the top three places in the initial Seven-year-old 1.20m as 23 of the 34 starters joined the jump-off, winning on B.E. Flygold (Stakkato Gold x Laughtons Flight) and taking third aboard Paddy – also second 48 hours later. The Vivant daughter Casala Dawn also put Annabel on the podium, taking second in the 34-strong Five-year-old Final over two rounds 0.91 seconds off the pace.
