News

Eastern Power retains title at Home International

  • Written By: British Dressage
  • Published: Fri, 04 May 2018 18:32 GMT

Vale View Equestrian hosted a weekend feast of fantastic Para dressage at the Home International with six teams rising to the challenge and impressing judges John Robinson, Alison Duck and Chris Porterfield with fancy footwork and accuracy. 

Generously sponsored by Equissage Pulse UK which supplied a luxurious selection of branded sashes, trophies and rosettes, together with goodie bags, plus prizes from on-site saddlery Buckaroo Equine, it was the Eastern Phosco’s Enlightened team which once again proved unbeatable retaining their title with a clear overall lead.

The winning quartet (Amanda Shirtcliffe, Joanne Dagley-Cleworth, Kyrby Brown and Jason Marques), kept their cool to retain the champion’s title for a second year, ahead of runners up Northern 1 and Eastern’s second team Phosco’s Illuminati taking third place.

The Eastern region teams were supported by their “super proud” Regional Chair and Chef d’Equipe Lotte Olsen, who said: “Our riders rode their socks off to produce fabulous results over the weekend. There were some riders who competed last year, as well as some new faces in the teams. I am also super proud of the horses, which included three full-time RDA horses ranging from coloured cobs to warmbloods. All worked well for their riders and were beautifully turned out by the incredible support teams that are so vital to para riders. We were thrilled to win again, but the team spirit shown by all the riders was just amazing - everyone rode with support from the gallery and huge cheers at the end!

“Thanks must go to the team at Vale View who organised a well run show despite the weather which really was not on our side. 

“Also, big thanks to CU Phosco Lighting our very generous regional sponsors, which make it possible for us to support para-dressage in the region and help fund our two teams to attend and thanks also to our fabulous Para Rep and team member Joanne Dagley-Cleworth.

“We will be back again next year and do our best to retain the title, but more importantly we’ll continue to develop para-dressage in the Eastern region.”

The winning team’s third rider Joanne Dagley-Cleworth rode her own 14-year-old, 17.2hh Hanoverian Michael Angelo (by Medoc) who she has owned since last year, to victory in Grade V tests. “Miko’s a superstar, very calm and laid back,” explained Joanne, who scored a cracking 72% on the first day. “I have to keep him almost eventing fit so he's active enough as my disability is my leg strength. 

“Our team was great - we had a Facebook group running in the lead-up to the show so even though Liz and Eleanor, who rode for our Phosco’s Illuminati team, were new this year, when they arrived they felt like they knew everyone already. We also all made a point of watching everyone in our team ride, so they felt supported and helped with any feedback afterwards.

“Going into the competition we knew we had two strong teams, so were hopeful of retaining the trophy, but you never know what’s going to happen on the day. I was incredibly pleased to be on the winning team and to also take the Grade V Individual title - I came home with two sashes which I've never had before!”

Grade III international rider Amanda Shirtcliffe, a member of last year’s winning team, continued her winning form with Jon McFarland’s Danish-bred 11-year-old Newman mare New Princess. This combination which is on the World Class Programme, proved the highest scoring horse and rider over the two days delivering plus 71% and 72% scores. “Princess felt brilliant, she’s such a pro,” said a proud Amanda, who took up para dressage after being diagnosed with Dystonia, an incurable neurological movement disorder in 2012 and has been slowly recovering from abdominal surgery last December. 

“It’s taken a bit longer to get back into our stride after my operation and we’d only just come back from competing in Belgium which turned out to be a bit of a mixed bag and not our best performance, so I was pleased to be able to have another run before leaving for Mannheim CPEDI3* this week. “International judge John Robinson gave us a good score with the comment “lovely, fluid test” which was such a boost as this is what we’ve been working on with our trainer Louise Robson. This weekend was the best Princess has felt all year and was just the boost we needed!”

Team Scores

First – Eastern Phosco’s Enlightened – 424.44%
Joanne Dagley-Cleworth with Michael Angelo
Kyrby Brown with Sambuca
Jason Marques with Bobby VII
Amanda Shirtcliffe with New Princess

Second – Northern 1 – 407.89%
Sarah Davies with Hundon Lodger
Jessica Dries with C Prinses
Jane Lishman with San Quenton Cos
Jane Ogden with Fairview Romeo

Third – Eastern Phosco’s Illuminati – 403.40%
Sophie Lingfield with Trust April
Eleanor Currington with Drunkeen Boy
Liz Remans with Uilenspiegel
Natalie South with Stady Boy

Fourth – Southern Dragons – 398.38%
Fifth – Northern 2 -- 393.16%
Sixth – South West – 389.53%