The Animal Health Trust UK Equestrian Awards 2014
Friday 07 November 2014
More than 400 people from the equestrian world attended the Animal Health Trust’s Awards evening at the Lancaster London on Thursday 6 November, to celebrate equestrian excellence in 2014.
This year Mike Tucker and Zoey Bird presented the 26th UK Equestrian Awards, joined by a host of esteemed guests including Chief Executive of British Showjumping Iain Graham, to give Awards to respective winners in seven categories – Dressage, Eventing, Showjumping, Racing, Voluntary Service, Veterinary and the Animal Health Trust Special Award.
The full list of winners include:
Showjumping Award, sponsored by British Showjumping, awarded to: Robrecht Cnockaert – Robrecht has been working as the Team Vet to British Showjumping since 2005, covering two Olympic Games, three World Equestrian Games and four European Championships, and further supported over seventy Top Level Nations Cup teams. Specialising in the needs of the performance horse, he has been crucial in ensuring the welfare of the British Team horses.
Dressage Award, sponsored by Harvey Spackfield, awarded to: British Pony Dressage Team – Britain’s Pony Team of Rebecca Bell, Alex Hellings, Bethany-Rose Horobin and Phoebe Peters claimed a team silver at the FEI European Championships in Millstreet, Ireland in August 2014. All four members scored over 70% to finish on 222.25%, only 3.08% behind Germany, with Rebecca and Alex achieving personal best scores. The team also scored fantastically individually, with Alex winning Bronze in the individual test and Phoebe scoring 77.85% to take silver in the freestyle to music.
Eventing Award, awarded to: John Huntridge, collected by Alex Liddle, rider of John Huntridge’s Romeo Z – The late John Huntridge was an avid eventing supporter for over 35 years, owning a string of horses from Novice to four star performers. One of his star horses, Romeo Z ridden by young rider Alex Liddle, was part of the British team who won Gold at the Junior European Championships in 2012.
Racing Award, sponsored by Betsi, awarded to: Treve, collected by trainer Criquette Head-Maarek - Treve is one of the most exciting horses of our time. The filly enjoyed a fantastic start to her career, unbeaten as both a two and three year old, before unfortunately suffering a few setbacks as a four year old. However, owner HH Sheikh Joaan Al Thani, racing manager Harry Herbert and trainer Criquette Head-Maarek never lost faith in the filly and she rewarded them by winning her second consecutive Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe in October, the first horse to do so since Alleged in the 1970s.
Veterinary Award, sponsored by Balta Group, awarded to: Dr Pat Harris MA VetMB PhD DipECVCN MRCVS – Dr Pat Harris has made an enormous contribution to nutrition over the past 30 years. A European Specialist in Veterinary Clinical and Comparative Nutrition, past President of the British Equine Veterinary Association and current Director of Science at Mars Horsecare, Pat is also the author or co-author of over 500 scientific papers, abstracts and book chapters. Most recently she was the co-editor of, and an author in, the 2013 landmark textbook Equine Applied and Clinical Nutrition: Health, Welfare and Performance.
Voluntary Award, sponsored by South Essex Insurance Brokers, awarded to: Richard Phillips – Richard Phillips is a very successful racehorse trainer who has also made a fantastic contribution to charities, particularly equine, devoting his time to raising hundreds of thousands of pounds for causes across the UK. Richard is a loyal supporter of the Animal Health Trust and has also supported other equine charities including Moorcroft Racehorse Welfare, Racing Welfare, the Injured Jockeys Fund and Riding for the Disabled.
Animal Health Trust Special Award awarded to: Mike Tucker – Mike Tucker competed in eventing for 20 years internationally, including the European Championships in 1975 and 1983. He has completed Badminton on 12 occasions, including being second in 1983, was second at Burghley in 1969 and won the Tidworth Three Day Event twice. Mike was on the British Eventing board for six years until 2005, and is a respected course designer including Chatsworth, Bramham and Burghley as well as internationally. More recently, Mike has commentated at most major equestrian events, including the last four Olympics and five World Equestrian Games for BBC TV and for Sky TV at Hickstead and Horse of the Year Show. A constant supporter of the Animal Health Trust, amongst other charities, he has also presented the Equestrian Awards for many years.
Chloë Bowler, Corporate Fundraising Manager at the Animal Health Trust, said: “The AHT UK Equestrian Awards is the flagship event in our fundraising calendar, raising vital funds for our work fighting disease and injury in animals. We are thrilled that it has been so well supported yet again. We’d especially like to thank Lady Harris, who has chaired the organising committee during 2014 and helped us reach a record-breaking fundraising total, all other members of the committee and, of course, all our sponsors who make this event possible each year. We are already looking forward to celebrating equestrian excellence in 2015.”
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1xtpsebafdw52.jpg "Sienna Hutchings and Mia Pearson Soar to Success in the STX-UK Pony British Novice Second Rounds")