The overnight leader after the cross-country kept her cool in a tense showjumping final to be crowned the champion of the 100cm class at the H&H Festival of Eventing.
Winner Anna Saunders and her 13-year-old mare Curious Lady (Poppy) had a 4.5-penalty lead going into the round and a knocked pole at the second part of the double at fence eight made for a nail-biting finish.
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Julia Dungworth, winner of the 100cm class at the 2018 event, came second with Irish Spring and kept the pressure on Anna until the very last second with a confident clear round. Third-placed Jemma Richardson and Parkhill Poppy also jumped clear to finish on their dressage score of 35.5.
Anna told H&H she approached the round “determined” to win.
“I’m quite a competitive rider, I definitely wanted to win. I walked the course last night and knew what I had to do. The course was really nice so I felt quite calm. There was one awkward related distance and Poppy tends to struggle with striding but she was really forward,” said Anna.
“It was a good round but I knocked part of the double, I think I got a bit too deep. The first few riders had some fences down, but the second and third-placed riders had clears so I knew I needed either a clear, or could have just the one pole down.”
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Anna moved up from fourth place after the dressage on Friday (25 May) on a score of 30.5.
“The dressage normally lets us down but the showjumping and the cross-country usually help us move up the places,” said Anna.
“This is one of the biggest venues we’ve been to – it’s very impressive. It’s been a brilliant weekend and I couldn’t have done it without my mum, Karen Saunders. Poppy is just the best, we call her ‘perfect Poppy’.”
Don’t miss the full report from the H&H Festival of Eventing in Horse & Hound magazine — on sale Thursday, 7 June.
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Since joining H&H in 2018, Becky has covered a broad range of equestrian news including welfare matters, veterinary studies, FEI Tribunal hearings and road safety campaigns. She has also interviewed top riders including Scott Brash, John Whitaker and Ian Stark, to name just a few. Becky’s reporting has taken her to Canada for Spruce Meadows and France for Pau five-star, as well as the Royal Highland and Blair Castle International Horse Trials closer to home. She was also a key part of the remote reporting team for the Tokyo Olympics and the Europeans.
