Mrs Sue Woodhouse found her first winner of the day in Ms Heaver’s bay Night Shadow (Yealand Night Owl x Arndilly Rose), who was the best of the senior Anglo Arab and part-bred (AA & PBA) geldings, followed closely by Janice Johannsson-Massey’s Mayway Momento (Mayway Boy George x Miss Hippo).
Winner of the Colombine Trophy, kindly donated by Mrs Jean Mary Crozier for the best AA & PBA mare four years and over, was Mrs Nina Hutton McKenzie’s home-bred PBA bay mare Mettlewood Liberty (Saker x Southwark Astral Storm). Janice Johannsson-Massey had to settle for second place with her bay Anglo mare Fantasica (Fawor x Kisses for Kate). Mettlewood Liberty went on to take the AA& PBA Championship, with Night Shadow in reserve, and ultimately was crowned reserve supreme in-hand champion of the show.
The yearling class winner in the AA & PBA junior section was the delightful bay colt Mettlewood Morpheous (Mettlewood Jubilee Tribute x Southark Astral Storm), another home-bred youngster from Mrs Nina Hutton McKenzie. Runner up was Sally Filtness’s SF Something Kinda Special (Hever Golf Ranger x Gazalah). Mrs Hillman’s quality home-bred colt Kelmstone Sea Otter (Ottergale x Kelmstone Royal Star) was the only two-year-old forward and went on to stand AA & PBA junior champion ahead of Mettlewood Morpheous. The winner of the Ibn Sakr Trophy for three-year-olds was Mrs Carugiti’s Kasra’s Image (Saker x Mayes Park Mystic VII) with Mrs R Napier-Clark’s Stanwell Sundance (Cranleigh Elite x Stanwells Queens Flight) in second.
Mettlewood Liberty added to her previous success when winning the amalgamated light horse and show/riding pony four years and over class before going on to take the championship in this category. The show/riding pony youngstock class not likely to exceed 148 cms was won by Mettlewood Morpheous, with Stanwell Sundance in second. Kelmstone Sea Otter (Ottergale x Kelmstone Royal Star) was successful in the over 148 cms class and went on to take the reserve.
The show has a number of popular additional in-hand classes where pure-bred horses compete with Anglo and part-breds. This year saw some promising young handlers forward under Seamus McCormick, who chose Jake Bermingham as his winner. Jessica Amess, 13, took the blue rosette with Charlotte Bruce, 15, in third place.
The winner of the amateur handlers was Nina Hutton McKenzie handling Mettlewood Morpheous. Second in this class was Samantha Jones with Classic Triumph (Bamboo Saucer x Millbrook Janandrea Jewell) while Janette Haylett took third place with her five-year-old pure-bred grey mare Azadiks Anoushka (LM Luval x MA Bint Azadik).
The winner and oldest horse forward in the veterans class was Alison Dursley’s The Frosted Orange (The Prince of Orange x Holly Blue) looking superb at 25 years and still covering mares. Closely contested in second place stood Mrs Coombs’ 19 year old Asrah (Ahmoun x Nalina) while Miss Coopers Newholme Fine Fella (Fasif x Fancy Flight) stood third and, at 24 years old, received the trophy for the oldest part-bred.
The final class of the day was the family pairs, won by the stunning liver chestnut pair Asrah (Ahmoun x Nalina ) and Eastworth Harri ( Asrah x Princess Netitia) owned by Mrs Coombs. Second was Mrs Nina Hutton McKenzie’s Mettlewood Morpheous and Mettlewood
