The British Horse Feeds Speedi-Beet HOYS Grade C Qualifiers headed East yesterday to the Royal Norfolk Show. An initial field of thirty came forward with hopes of gaining one of three qualification places on offer for the British Horse Feeds Speedi-Beet HOYS Grade C Championship Final held at Horse of the Year Show in October but it was Sam Ward from Stowmarket, Suffolk who reigned triumphant.
Course designer Michael Bainbridge set a challenging first round track that proved to be a thrilling competition with faults occurring all over. Four combinations managed to negotiate their way around the track faultlessly to go through to the jump off.
Sam piloted Michael Bates’ Romany, a 10-year-old British bred gelding by Le Tot de Semilly whom he took over the ride from Billy Twomey in 2016, to a comfortable victory crossing the finish line with a double clear in 49.91 seconds. Alex Bishop rode Matt Pike’s 9-year-old Dutch bred stallion Fres Belles into second place posting a double clear in 51.18 seconds.
Keith Doyle took the third and final qualifying ticket of the day with his own Hip Hop L, a 7-year-old Dutch bred gelding whom he has produced for three years. They were the slowest of the double clears crossing the line in 52.03 seconds.
