Scotland’s Jemma Kirk wins at Pembrokeshire

The Pembrokeshire County Show is the largest 3-day Agricultural County Show in Wales and welcomes nearly 100,000 people every year. This year the show played host to British Showjumping Business Partnership International Stairway, which saw riders from across the country descend upon their grounds all competing for vital points.

 

With six riders all making it through to the jump off it was going to be a hard fought competition. Course designer Peter Gillespie knew he had to build a testing course making sure the “best man” won which is exactly what he did as only two riders Jemma Kirk and William Funnell managed to jump clear.

 

It was twenty three year old Jemma Kirk who managed to narrowly take the win by 0.01 of a second. Jemma partnered her fathers (Robert) fifteen year old bay gelding Wexford who she also won individual gold at the 2009 Young Riders European Championship. Jemma and Wexford jumped a superb clear round in a jump off time of 42.16 seconds.

 

Second place went to William Funnell and Carol Toliver’s thirteen year old bay stallion Kepi D’Elle. Although the pair managed to jump two fantastic clear rounds they just missed out on the win coming home in a time of 42.17 seconds. This combination are the current leaders of the International Stairway league table on 35 points with Phillip Miller and Caritiar Z a close second on 26 points.