Find out who was competitive in the first class of the NAF Five Star Winter Dressage Championships as the much-anticipated show gets underway...
Greg Sims and Waverley Fellini’s score of 72.96% was good enough to claim first title of the NAF Five Star Winter Dressage Championships 2020 at Hartpury College. They finished head of affairs in the Prestige Italia novice gold in what was their first outing since qualifying at Myerscough College in February.
“He made it all feel easy today. He was nicely balanced, the transitions came off well and he didn’t look at anything so I’m really pleased,” said the North Wales-based rider, who owns the five-year-old Furstenball x Sandro Hit gelding together with Stena Hoerner.
“We’ve kept him in light work over the last few months and been trying to get him a bit stronger. He has a great work ethic – the more you give him the more he thrives. He’s one of our star pupils; he has three good paces and is very consistent.”
Waverley Fellini was bred by Sara Longworth at the Waverley Stud and broken in by Greg, who spent six years working for the Eilberg family before setting up GSH Dressage with Stena, as a three-year-old.
‘He couldn’t have gone better’
Jade Struthers and Suarez, the first of the 19 combinations into the arena at the Winter Dressage Championships 2020, occupied the novice gold runner-up position with 71.79%.
“I was really impressed with his attitude today. He was calm, relaxed and unfazed by the atmosphere. He couldn’t have gone better,” said Jade who bought the six-year-old dark bay gelding unseen from Holland as a yearling.
“I gave him eight weeks off during lockdown and that quiet time has done him the world of good. He’s matured a lot and since he’s been back in work we’ve really been paying attention to the basics and it showed today.”
Jade is about to embark on her third year as a rural business student at Scotland’s Rural College in Edinburgh and harbours ambitions of becoming a rural surveyor.
Jezz Palmer piloted Richard Burge’s King IV, a five-year-old Governor x Johnson stallion into third with 71.29%.
Keep up with all of the action from the NAF Five Star Winter Dressage Championships on the Horse & Hound website via our H&H Plus service with full reports from each winter championship class, plus a gallery of winners from the Petplan Equine Area Festival Championships.
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