Warrior leaps to glory

Katie Hipkins and Chloe Dunn keep their cool to land a championship class each

- ELLIE HUGHES

Science Supplements Firle Place Area Festival, Sussex

JUMPING came to the fore at this inaugural British Eventing Area Festival where both the showjumping and cross-country tracks were beefy, long and technical – a reflection of their championship status (see box, below).

Katie Hipkins and Martins Irish Warrior were one of only two combinations in the BE100 to finish on their first-phase score, a feat that saw them claw their way up the leaderboard from 11th after the dressage into the top spot.

“I knew the cross-country time was going to be hard to get, so I pushed on between fences and tried not to waste a second,” said Katie of the nine-year-old gelding who came from Martins Irish Horses three years ago. “He’s suddenly grown up. He used to find it hard to coordinate his long, gangly legs, but everything’s coming together now.”

Katie, 19, works part-time for international eventer Sam Sweeney, who won a regular BE90 section on Foodys Classic Dawn.

Katie and Warrior contested their first novice at Chilham a fortnight before Firle; they plan to step back up to that level at Borde Hill (1) at the end of the month.

Portman branch of the Pony Club member Chloe Dunn topped a competitive BE90 championship aboard her own Towerhill Shamie, finishing on their dressage score of 26.9.

“I was particularly pleased with the showjumping, which was hard for him as he’s not naturally careful and the arena was undulating and the track very technical,” said Chloe, who has worked hard on this phase with the 15hh gelding over the past five years. “We do plenty of gridwork and I have to concentrate on the quality of the canter and making sure we have power, not speed.”