The 29-year-old French rider, who won individual gold at last year’s Alltech FEI European Jumping Championships at Windsor, has moved up from third to take over the green and gold armband.

Kevin, who sits as number one for the first time, takes over from Canadian showjumper Eric Lamaze, who has been sidelined after breaking his foot in Aachen on 20 July.

Eric has now dropped down to second ahead of Switzerland’s Pius Schwizer, who was world number one for the five months ahead of Eric.

The highest placed British rider is Ben Maher, sitting in 20th, who has dropped from 15th.

More familiarly known as Daisy Dick until her marriage in October to Charles Berkeley, Mrs Berkeley revealed to the waiting press immediately after her win that she and Charles were expecting a baby in January.

Gatcombe was, therefore, her penultimate competition before she takes a break from competitive riding until after the birth of their baby.

Having come third on Spring Along at Badminton earlier this year, Berkeley felt optimistic about her chances in the British Open at Gatcombe and decided to forego the Advanced Section in which she had triumphed last year.

“I really wanted to win this, especially as it is a local event,” she said.

The decision paid off and Berkeley and Spring Along led the field on 32.7 penalty points after a faultless show jumping performance and was last out across the Capt Mark Phillips-designed cross country course just after 4pm on Sunday.

Several riders, including Caroline Powell on Lenamore and Joe Meyer on Sanskrit, had posted exceptionally fast times ahead of her and 38-year-old Berkeley said she knew she would have to go some to maintain her lead.

“I did show my age with my 0.8 point time fault,” she admitted, but despite her pregnancy she did not hold back and Spring Along was faultless throughout the course.

She said she was soppy when it comes to awards and she was thrilled that she and “Pod” as Spring Along is known in the stables, were now on the honours board at Gatcombe.

She was also delighted to report that Spring Along had now achieved an all-time record for the most points ever earned by an event horse.

Her husband was not, however, there to congratulate her as she and Spring Along crossed the finish line. He had instead honoured a commitment to give a talk to a local group about growing up at Berkeley Castle.

“When he realised that I was in with a chance he asked his brother Henry if he would to the talk instead but Henry refused,” said Berkeley.

“I said never mind you do your thing and I’ll do mine and we’ll have a celebratory curry when I get home.”

Although some competitors this year complained about the first place prize of £2,250, it will buy a fair few curries.

New Zealander Joe Meyer and Sanskrit were second with a fast clear inside the time, with Surrey-based youngster Gemma Tattersall third on Kings Gem.

Ruth Edge, who won the British Open Championship at Gatcombe last year and the year before, did not enter the Open this year but won the Smith & Williamson Intermediate Championship on Applejack II.

Previous Open winner Oliver Townend on Jeepers Creepers won the Dodson & Horrell Novice Championship.

Riding her horse Treefers, Parker, 20, won individual gold in the Czech Republic and helped Great Britain to team gold for the sixth year running.

She said: “The whole team performed brilliantly and it’s great to come home with two gold medals.

“To win the individual as well as the team title this year is fantastic.”

Parker rode a clear round in the showjumping to take individual gold ahead of Sweden’s Hannes Mekin and edge out Germany by only 0.1 points in the team event.

She said: “I was leading after the cross country so it was pretty nerve wracking going into the showjumping but I’m delighted to have won. “

Olympian Tim Stockdale said: “It is top class.

“They have done a really good job. The stables are super, prize money is good, the ground is good.

“It should become a really big event. Because it is so far away and it is the first time there aren’t going to be as many of the big names.

“But next year I think it will be inundated with people who see what level of show it is.”

The inaugural three-day event saw talent from across the country competing, with showjumping’s first family, the Whitakers, stealing a huge chunk of the action.

And it was Ellen Whitaker on Ocolado who won the top event of the weekend.
She rode away with the £4,000 prize money after beating two family members – Louise and Michael – in the Burgham Classic Grand Prix.

After winning, she said: “He jumped well on the first day and again today. He seems to be on really good form at the moment.
“This event is brilliant, I really hope they run it again next year.”

Michael Whitaker, Ellen’s uncle, said: “The organisers have done a really good job for a first-time event and they definitely need something like this up here.”

There was also success for North East riders. On the first day of the event, Pippa Allen, from Cleveland, on Zadermus won the Atticus Risk B&C National Championship Qualifier.

Meanwhile, 18-year-old Melissa Gair, from Gateshead, picked up two firsts on Sunday in the Tri-Zone Senior Newcomer and the 1.15m.

Pippa, 16, said: “This show is really good for the area. There hasn’t been anything round here for a long time so it is a really good opportunity.
“Hopefully, in about 20 years’ time it will become a prestigious event.”

The sport’s court jester, Geoff Billington, led more than 300 people round the final Grand Prix course on Sunday before the horses took to the field.

He said: “It is a really nice event. I used to go to Stannington years ago.

“It is good to have a show like this in this part of the country.”

A spokeswoman for the festival said: “We are delighted with how Burgham Horse Festival has been received by competitors and visitors.

“We were up against serious event competition this weekend with Sunderland Air Show and Newcastle Races Ladies Day but we had to accept the date allocated by British Showjumping.

“We still managed to get 4,000 visitors, though, and all our top showjumpers have committed to returning next year.

“We were blessed with dry and often sunny weather and provided an amazing spectacle for all those people who turned out.

“We are grateful for all the kind feedback and are now looking towards Burgham in 2011.”

Full Article here

Included in the stellar line-up of riders is Susie Gibson from Warrington, who was recently voted 2010 Trainer of the Year by the British Show Jumping Association.

Ian Wynne from Cheshire, local girl Pauline Elms from Formby and Faith Crompton also from Warrington are also all competing.

The competition starts today, with initial qualifying, and continues tomorrow as entrants battle it out to make it into the draw for all the final championship classes taking place on Sunday.

On finals day, the top prize of £300 is available in the Clatterbridge Cancer Research Amateur Championship.

As well as top quality show jumping, the weekend festival also features a selection of trade stands together with refreshments and other entertainment, making it a great family day out.

Jumping starts at 9am daily and continues until early evening with entry and parking totally free.

How many medals targeted by Team GB?

Jumping one of only three triple clear rounds of the entire competition, the nine year-old grey gelding missed victory by just two tenths of a second, settling for second place behind Germany’s Marco Kutscher. Third place went to Brazil’s Rodrigo Pessoa.

Nick commented:

“Carlo is only nine so I am very pleased with him but because of his age, I will not be aiming him at the World Championships this year. He will do the GCT shows and hopefully be really ready for the big stuff in London 2012”.

300,000€ La Mandria Grand Prix

1st Marco Kutscher GER Cash 63 – 0/0/0 37.98 secs

2nd Nick Skelton GBR Carlo 273 – 0/0/0 38.18 secs

3rd Rodrigo Pessoa BRA HH Rebozo – 0/0/0 41.12 secs

Full results can be downloaded at www.globalchampionstour.com

She suffered a fractured skull and small brain bleeds and fell into a coma.

Mrs King-Dye, who was disqualified from the 2008 Olympics when her mount, Mythilus, tested positive in a dope test, has ridden a horse twice during therapy since being released from Kessler Institute to outpatient care on 25 June.

In a blog on her website Mrs King-Dye wrote: “The first time, I was more nervous than before I rode in the Olympic Games.

“They told me it was OK to cry — they were great — but once I was on it was like [being] home. I didn’t know if I’d be able to do what I knew I must, but I did.

“I knew, for me, I had to separate the riding as a therapy, from the love of the horse. Even though I was working on very different things, it was still work. And once I was off, I let myself love him to pieces.

“He was great. His name is ‘Dude’ and he was great. I rode so ugly I thank God that it wasn’t on one of my horses… both for me, and for him “But you can’t take the trainer out of the girl. It was a very hot day, so Dude kept stopping by the door. Instinct took over, and by the third time I shocked everyone (including me!) by kicking poor Dude.

“He, who is trained to ignore everything the person on his back may do, very obediently ignored my pathetic one-legged kick. I was mortified, but it caused a good laugh.”