Anya makes history on red letter day at Hickstead

Anya Dewey Clarke made history at the Agria Royal International Horse Show today (22 July) when she became the first rider to win the Pro Ponies UK Winter 128cm Championship three times as well as the first to also win the Pony of The Year BS Winter 138cm Championship in the same year.

It was 11-year-old Anya’s final year competing in the 128cm class, as it is restricted to riders under 12, and she produced a brilliant one-two finish.

While her superstar pony Jim won the title for the past two years, this time it was his stablemate Kilcreene Snapdragon who just pipped him to the post from last-to-go against the clock.

Anya was in the difficult, but enviable, position of having to decide which pony she wanted to take the win on: victory for 18-year-old Jim would have made them the only pony-and-rider combination to win the title three times, but 13-year-old “Snappy” has never taken the sash here before.

“It was a tough decision to know what to do. I knew that I probably wanted to win on Jim but I wanted to do the same round as I did on Jim with Snappy, and do all the turns. I let him go on to the last and he’s got such a big stride, he covers the ground,” said Anya, who beat her own time by 0.69sec.

“They are both incredible ponies and I love them so much.”

The class formed a tough challenge for the young riders — Anya was riding two ponies out of only five combinations to make the jump-off, from a start list of 22.

“I am always confident with my ponies,” said Anya, who is based in Brampton in Lincs. “I knew I could just go in there and if I gave them my all, they would give it back!”

Less than 2hrs later, Anya broke her second record of the day when she became the first rider to win both the 128cm and 138cm winter titles in the same year.

She dominated a six rider jump off in the Pony of the Year BS Winter 138cm championship, stopping the clock an impressive 3.55sec ahead of runner-up Amy Capper and five-time champion Playboy Van De Zoetwei.

“We went for a strong clear in the first round and then I knew that the time in the jump off was very fast, so I had to start strong and finish strong with tight turns,” said Anya, who rode the mare in this final for the first time last year.

“Last year we were just getting to know each other and ever since that, we’ve kept coming on. She’s giving me brilliant results and I can’t wait for the rest of the year,” she said.

“She is just a dream to ride, she is known as the queen of the yard.”

Five-star event rider Gemma Stevens stamped her showjumping credentials once again, winning today’s UNIBED High-Performance Equine Bedding BS Winter Grades B&C Championship.

Riding Nadia Al Mutawa’s stallion Warrior Special (Warrior x Caretino Glory), Gemma produced the fastest of the six double clears in the jump-off, to finish 0.23sec ahead of Thomas Pritchard and Princess SW in second.

“It’s one of my biggest showjumping wins here,” said Sussex-based Gemma. “Warrior Special is a big horse, he’s really careful with the most enormous stride, so I probably took 10 less strides than everyone else! For such a big horse, he’s got a real turn of foot.”

It was a day of celebration for the British star, who combines showjumping with top-level eventing, as Gemma has just been named on the British team for next month’s FEI World Championships, riding her 2022 Ashby Underwriting Eventers' Challenge winner Flash Cooley.

Cheshire’s Georgia Cooper-Hall got today’s national finals off to a storming start when she took an assured 2.64sec win in the SEIB BS Winter Novice Championship.

Her win came courtesy of Liam Hall’s six-year-old mare Ukira Van De Helle (United Way x Cormint), who was bought directly from Belgium’s Van De Helle stud last year.

Five of the seven combinations to reach the jump off were clear, with 18-year-old Georgia stealing the advantage from Melissa Garry and Supermoon 13 with a bold run to the last.

“She is so fast, I know that when she gets in a jump off, she has a really good chance,” said Georgia. “She is really quick off the ground, doesn’t spend much time in the air and she’s so careful.”

Raphaela Dawson enjoyed her first ever Hickstead win in The Oakley Coachbuilders BS Winter Grade JC Championship, jumping the only double clear with the eight-year-old Belgian gelding Woody Van Duyversputten.

“It was difficult being first-to-go because there were lots of fast people after me, but the track proved tougher for them than I thought it would be,” said Raphaela, 15.

For full results click here.

Tickets for the Agria Royal International Horse Show (22-26 July) are available online or at the gate, and all the action from the show will be livestreamed via the host streaming partner ClipMyHorse.TV.