The winners of Haddon Training British Grooms Awards collected their prizes at the British Breeders Awards Dinner in London last week (16 January).
The standard of nominations in the four categories “was extremely high” said Chris Hewlett, managing director of Haddon Training, who judged the awards with Jane Holderness-Roddam and Jenny Ellis.
Adele Clarke who was nominated by her employers Vin and Liz Jones of Preci-Spark event horses was presented with the trophy for the British Grooms Award.
She also received a £350 cash prize and a two-night dinner, B&B stay at a country hotel.
The runner up was Daniel Tarpey who works for showjumper Laura Mantel.
The highly commended certificate in this category was awarded to Oscar Mayhew-Sanders, who was nominated by Tim Stockdale.
The Haddon Training Team GBR award was won by Alan Davies, who was nominated by Carl Hester and Charlotte Dujardin and World Class performance manager, Richard Waygood.
Davies took home a £250 cash prize, engraved trophy and weekend city break at the Grange City Hotel in London, where the awards took place.
“It’s so important that sponsors such as Haddon Training are doing this for the grooms. We have a really important job and we need to make sure there are new grooms coming through that want to dedicate themselves to working with horses,” said Davies.
The runners-up certificate was awarded to Zanie King who groomed for Laura Collett at the FEI European Eventing Championships.
The yard manager award was presented to Kate Hort who was nominated by Alex Hua Tian and Sarah Higgins of Pinfold Stables. She received a cash prize of £250 and an engraved trophy.
Rosie Harbour, who was nominated by her employer Witham Villa Equestrian Centre, won the apprentice award. The prize includes a week’s placement in a top equestrian/racing yard.
Joint highly commended certificates were awarded to Sophie McDonald, nominated by Platinum Stud and Steven Skillington, nominated by Norman Court Stud.
The judges said all the winners “have made an outstanding contribution in their careers or at the start of their career in the equestrian industry.”
