Horse & Hound – 22 August 2019

52 Horse&Hound 22 August 2019

SHOWJUMPING

PEMBROKESHIRE COUNTY

13-15 August

MillfieldBaloneyproducestwocarefulclearstotakegrandprixglory,onerider

continues her winning streak and a veteran celebrates his final season

PembrokeshireCounty

ADRIANSPEIGHTsettled

forsecondintheareatrialbut

produceda magicaldoubleclear

inthemainPembrokeshire

mastersgrandprixtoclaimthe

£1,500winner’spurseonJudith

Whitham’sMillfieldBaloney.

“He’sbeenknockingonthe

doorthisseasonwithseveral

secondplaces.Hedeserved

thiswin,”saidAdrian,whowas

secondatRoyalNorfolk’sarea

trialandinternationalstairway

andsecondinGreatYorkshire’s

internationalstairway.

Thegrandprixwasrununder

specialrules,with 10 coming

forwardtoroundtwocarrying

theirfaults.Inthefirstround,

eightmadea singlemistakeover

course-designerPeterGillespie’s

track—andthefaultscame

everywhere—tojointhetwo

clearsinthefinalround.

PaulCragomadenoerror

BySUZANNEJONES

Baloney opens the door to a win

‘It shows winners come

in all shapes and sizes’:

Adrian Speight pilots

the roach-backed

Millfield Baloney to top

spot in the grand prix

Helen Tredwell and her

home-bred Larksong

secure a win in the

area trial by 1.61sec

second time out to set an

early target on June Hof Ter

Zeedycke, but his lead was soon

swept away by Helen Tredwell

on Larksong by an impressive six

seconds. However, Mark Edwards

was 0.2sec quicker with Tinkers

Tale to take the lead, and the

pressure was on the final two

zero-score riders to produce

another clear.

Millfield Baloney didn’t look

like touching a fence as Adrian

guided the Balou Du Rouet x

Kanudos 13-year-old into the

required clear. It all hinged on

last-to-go Angie Thompson. She

beat the time with Boogie Woogie

but the final vertical fell to drop

them to fifth.

“I thought there’d be more

clears — the going couldn’t be

better but some were caught out

by the more traditional fences like

the rustic oxer with brush filler

and the gradients of the ring,” said

Adrian, who has worked hard

on the flatwork with the roach-

backed Baloney.

“It shows winners come in all