Young rider Charlie Hutton flew the flag for Britain by winning all three young rider tests on offer at Addington CDIJYP and CDI, 16-18 April 2009.

 

He rode Merlin Nemorensis (pictured) to score 66.93% in the team test, 69.123% in the individual and 73.33% in the freestyle, marking the combination’s first international wins. 

 

Hutton, who has had the ride on Lady Evans’s nine-year-old 17.1hh German-bred gelding for two and a half years, said: “He was at elementary level when he came to us. It has been a team effort to get him to this level; I’ve had help from my mother [Pammy Hutton] and the World Class Programme. At Addington, Erik Theilgaard helped me to warm-up on the first day and told me to wrap my lower leg around him as he needs the support. It wasn’t easy and I was nearly in tears at the end of the walk during the test, but it was worth it as our scores kept going up over the next two days.”

 

Dutch riders dominated the pony and junior classes. Best Brit in the pony team test was Claire Gallimore and Gigolo, who scored 70% for third place and went on to take the runner-up slot in the freestyle with 74.17%. Natasha Leak and DHI Langar also broke the 70% barrier for a second placing in the pony individual test.

 

There was also strong competition in the juniors where Alexandria Barr achieved the best British results with a sixth place in the team test riding Janeiro (67.297%) and a fourth in the individual on Davingell with 67.982%. Melissa Beer and Celestial King took sixth place in the freestyle with 67.58%.

 

Finland’s Kyra Kyrklund and Max dominated the senior competition, winning both the grand prix and grand prix freestyle with ease. Maria Eilberg and Two Sox took third place in the freestyle with 73.65% having finished fourth in the grand prix. Carl Hester was fourth in the freestyle with Liebling on 72.9% after finishing third in the grand prix.