Lucy Lloyd was “delighted” to win the advanced medium silver class at the Petplan Equine Area Festival Championships at Hartpury aboard Glensensaw Sweet Girl (pictured). This combination were the only competitors to break the 70% barrier, scoring 70.38%.
“I was delighted – it was a personal best score so it couldn’t have gone any better,” said Lucy of her Irish Sports Horse mare. “I bought her to event, which we did for a couple of years, but during lockdown I got into my dressage and as I work full-time, it’s easier to fit just dressage in compared to eventing.”
Lucy said that she “didn’t dare to dream” that she could win this class.
“But I thought that if we could hit all the right buttons, then there was a chance we could score well.”
Lucy explained that Glensensaw Sweet Girl was a “surprise” present to her.
“I lost my old my old eventer and I was I was just crying all the time, and I don’t really cry a lot,” explained Lucy. “So my mum said ‘we need to do something because she’s just crying all the time’. So mum and my sister went out shopping for me and surprised me with Glensensaw Sweet Girl.
“I got home from work one day and she was there with a big pink bow on the door.”
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Lucy works for the Housing Association in property development, providing support for vulnerable adults.
“It’s quite a demanding, but a really rewarding job,” she said. “It’s nice to have riding as an escape. I’d really like to do an advanced and then my aim is to have a go at prix st georges, but we’ll see how it goes.”
‘We’ve had an awfully difficult time’
Heidi Marcus and Hawkins Fiorella were another pair to be the only ones to break the 70% barrier in the novice silver Area Festival with a score of 71.45%. Alys Matravers and Dargason’s Moonshadow were second on 69.86%.
“My goal for today was to be really calm and enjoy it,” said Heidi. “You can’t replicate these atmospheres so coming to big championship and with all the wonderful razzmatazz, it’s great to be able to give confidence to your horse, so that was my big win for today.”
Heidi bought Hawkins Fiorella from Judith Davis at Hawkins Stud when she was rising four.
“She’s 11 now but we had an awfully difficult time to start with for a few years with her suffering from gastric ulcers – I’m very lucky to have her because it got so bad, which is why we’re at novice level age 11! We tried so many different things to help get her ulcers better, including a lot of veterinary treatment – we had her gastroscoped three times, but the normal treatment didn’t help enough, so in a last ditch attempt before having to have her euthanised, I ended up taking on a horse feed company that originated in America. The previous distributor retired, so there was a danger of it not making it into the UK, so myself and my business partner took on the feed company and that was a salvation for my horse.
“I think she’s fabulous and I love her to bits, but her management is really important. Her turnout and the consistency of care is crucial.”
‘He tried his best’
Bryley Llewelyn and her super-sweet coloured cob, Cwmtyysswg Will, put in a lovely performance in the Area Festival novice bronze championship. The duo scored 72.01% early this morning to secure victory by almost 2%.
“He tried his best and I couldn’t have asked for more really,” said Bryley, who has owned Cwmtyysswg Will for the past five years. “He was really uphill and it felt so nice. His medium trots were lovely, and they’re something we have been working on, so that was great.”
Olivia Van Grudgings and Pencarder Cry For The Moon were second on 70.2%, while Jennifer Philcox and Londoner I were third on 69.58%.
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Former web features editor, point-to-point editor and digital racing editor
Gemma is an experienced journalist, who was a member of H&H staff from 2014 to September 2025. She is passionate about all equestrian sports, including racing and point-to-pointing. She has enjoyed riding out for top trainers Nicky Henderson and Charlie Appleby and took part in a charity Flat race at Epsom in August 2018. Gemma’s has reported from numerous five-star events around Britain and Europe, as well as European championships.
