SAM HUTTON WINS FINAL YOUNG RIDER QUALIFYING COMPETITION AT THE HAND
Friday 26 March 2010
The final qualifying competition for the World Class Development Programme Championship was held on 20th March at The Hand Equestrian Centre.
The competition, which is open to riders aged 23 years or under, attracted seventeen entries at this Premier Show and with an up to height course, built by Peter Gillispie, produced a very good competition with seven clear rounds through to the jump off.
The honours for this final class went to Towerlands runner-up, Sam Hutton riding Astral 57, winning the jump off with a clear round in a time of 36.68 seconds. Second place went to Thomas Whitaker, riding Charlett in a time of 31.15 seconds, with Yazmin Pinchen riding Zodiac Z in third place in a time of 33.90 seconds.
The results from The Hand means that Sam is the leading rider of the points table with 87 points, closely followed by long-time leader, Junior European Gold Medallist, Carian Scudamore with 82 points and in third place is Joe Davison with 66 points.
As part of its sponsorship, the World Class Development Programme is funding the first place prize money of £300 at the qualifying competitions, as well as Training Vouchers, which are awarded to the first six prize-winning riders, currently eligible for British Team selection, the other three riders who received Training Vouchers were Carla Chamberlain (4th), Yazmin Pinchen (5th) and Emily Davies (6th).
Corrine Bracken, Junior and Young Rider Chef d’Equipe commented, “The improvement that Sam Hutton has made is as much through his own hard work, as that of the continued support of World Class Development and the back up of his coach Tony Newbury, which paid off on Saturday at The Hand, where Sam demonstrated real talent and flair when riding a young, less experienced horse in the jump off. Second placed Thomas Whitaker did his best to try and beat Sam in true Whitaker style, while third placed Yazmin Pincher has showed talent and consistency throughout the qualifying series”.
The top twenty-two horse and rider combinations, based on points from their best four results will now come forward to jump in the World Class Development Programme Championship and it’s supporting competition, the World Class Development Programme Pathfinder. These will be held at The British Open Show Jumping Championships in Birmingham’s LG Arena on the 7th and 8th April.
The World Class Development Programme is Lottery and Exchequer funded through UK Sport, and seeks to identify and develop talented athletes who have shown the potential to reach the world stage. The Programme underpins World Class Performance and, together with the Equine Pathway, they comprise the Equestrian World Class Programme, incorporating the three Olympic sports of dressage, eventing, show jumping and the Paralympic sport of para-equestrian dressage.
The Programmes work closely with the three British Equestrian Federation Olympic Member Bodies; British Dressage, British Eventing and British Showjumping, whose own training and competition programmes work hand in hand with the programmes run within World Class.
The final twenty-two qualified riders who will compete in the Pathfinder and Championship classes at The British Open Show Jumping Championships will be announced shortly on the British Showjumping website.
.JPG "Chris Smith Clinches Back-to-Back Wins in the International Stairway at Royal Highland Show")
