It was New Year celebrations all round at the Equestrian.com Liverpool International Horse Show with success for horses and ponies fed on TopSpec.
Sponsored rider Louise Saywell gave the strong British challenge a flying start to the on the Saturday continuing a recent run of success she has enjoyed with the James Hughes-owned Peiter VI.
They starred at Birmingham’s Horse of the Year Show three months ago, and Liverpool’s Echo Arena witnessed another superb round as they dominated the opening international class – a two-phase competition sponsored by Wilcox @ Edgemere and Cooke Horseboxes.
“It is a fantastic start to the show for me,” Louise said. “We had a bit of a scary moment at the first fence – he was busy looking at the big screen – but then he was away.
“He is naturally quick, and all the turns came off today. He seems to deliver at every show, and in different types of classes, which is fantastic.”
Young Charlie Atkinson produced a performance to savour as he enjoyed an “amazing” winning experience at the show.
The talented young rider, from Stockton-on-Tees, guided the impressive TopSpec-fed, Bunbury Conquest to victory in the Liverpool International 128cms Championship, sponsored by Squibb Demolition.
The 10-year-old was in sparkling form, guiding his pony home in a jump-off time of 34.05 seconds, which was more than three seconds clear of the field.
Reflecting on his victory, an elated Charlie said: “It was amazing. I got round and did all the turns right – and I came first!
“It is absolutely amazing to win here. It was quite nerve-wracking to ride in front of such a large crowd.
Taking part in the Shetland Pony Grand National was the wonderful grey pony, Clothie Night Idiot owned by Elinor Bosanquet who runs Clothie Shetland Pony Stud with Marie Brooker, and also fed on TopSpec.
Said Elinor: “Idiot is bred to be a performance pony; his bloodlines are quick and his dam and siblings also race. He’s a natural leader and loves his job. He adores the attention; the more the crowd claps the quicker he goes.”