‘It felt amazing’ best friend of 2022 winner takes London title
Nand van 't Bergske Geir Gulliksen and Maxmilo Serena Brown winners of THE GS EQUESTRIAN PONY CLUB MINI-MAJOR at The London International Horse Show at ExCel in London between 13-18th December 2023
(Image credit: LIHS / Peter Nixon)
Last year, Serena Brown travelled from Northern Ireland to cheer her friend Juliana Nelson to victory with Geir Gulliksen in the London International Horse Show mini major – but this year, they swapped places.
Serena, riding Maxmilo, equalled Juliana’s achievement by winning the title, also paired with Geir, and this time Juliana was cheering from the sidelines.
Serena had a tough task to follow; Amy Capper and Laithehill Paisley, partners of Seb Hughes and Colorado Volo, had set a time that looked unbeatable.
But last in Serena jumped her second fence almost sideways, on the 19-year-old “Blackjack”, and pulled off some death-defying turns to thunder home nearly a second ahead.
“I was nervous; I probably just thought I’d go as fast as I possibly could!” 11-year-old Serena said. “It felt amazing, I could hear my friends cheering.”
The win made it two from two for Geir, who this year rode 10-year-old gelding Nand van ‘t Bergske.
“She controlled everything,” Geir said of his co-rider.”She idn’t overcook it, and she rode perfectly. It was a deserved win; to come here with this crowd, and there aren’t many people who can say they won here aged 11! William Funnell from the show committee asked if I’d do the class and I think it’s so important to give back to the sport. And I enjoy it.”
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