“We were the dream team!” said William Fletcher after winning the Glenbrook Property Mini Major Pairs in partnership with 10-year-old Alfie Diaper at the TheraPlate UK Liverpool International Horse Show.
William, who rode Di Wilson’s 11-year-old mare Tiger Bright, and Alfie, aboard 22-year-old Euro Magic, sped round in a time of 50.11 seconds.
“Alfie did an amazing job with very tight turns.”
Second were Ireland’s Mikey Pender and Saroise O’Neil in 51.91 seconds, while Eve McCoy – daughter of the legendary National Hunt jockey AP McCoy – and Anthony Condon were third in a time of 54.36.
Alfie, who lives in Dorset and is a member of the Poole and District branch of the Pony Club, is having a stellar week at Liverpool. Yesterday — the first day of the four-day show — he won the first heat of the Jones Brothers Shetland Pony Grand National.
“My dream was to win a rug,” admitted Alfie, “and now I have.”
William said: “It took me four years to win a rug here!”
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There were two showjumping classes for amateur riders at TheraPlate UK Liverpool this morning. Grace Wallace won the Black Cat Building Consultancy 1.25m competition with the 10-year-old mare Eau Claire V, while Melissa Garry was second on Hotesse.
The opening 1.15m class, sponsored by Jolliffe & Co, went to Tony Pearson (Berlin). Ireland’s Carol Gee of Fernhill Sports Horses was second on Fernhill Splash.
Check back on horseandhound.co.uk for more updates from the Liverpool International Horse Show plus report in the issue of Horse & Hound magazine dated 9 January.
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A St Andrews’ graduate, Catherine joined Horse & Hound in 2002 and stayed for 11 years in a variety of roles until she went freelance in June 2013. She rejoined the team part-time in November 2016 as hunting editor. She pretty much lives on the hunting field or at the racecourse, but also loves eventing, as a journalist, press officer and competitor. She was H&H’s sole accredited journalist at the London Olympic Games and has reported from major race meetings and eventing, showjumping and dressage championships and shows round the world, and has hunted all over Britain and Ireland.
