Victory caps convincing Borde Hill weekend for Halliday

An excellent showing from each of her four horses helped Liz Halliday produce a sensational Eventing performance at Borde Hill Horse Trials last weekend that included victory in her BE100 section.

Just 30 minutes from her base at Chailey Stud Equestrian Centre in East Sussex, Borde Hill offered Liz the ideal opportunity to give four of her less experienced horses a run after a largely washed-out month of May.

That ‘home advantage’ certainly seemed to help Benny (Benaughlin Little Hero) who dominated his BE100 section on Saturday thanks to an overall score of just 27.4. Having not competed since mid-April, Liz was particularly pleased with his all-round performance which included a strong Dressage, clear Show Jumping and near-perfect Cross Country round that featured just 0.4 time fault points.

Sunday saw Halliday’s remaining horses entered in Novice sections and once again all three were in terrific form.

Leading after the Dressage, Tango (Deo Volente) ultimately went on to finish second in her section after encouraging rounds in both the Show Jumping and Cross Country.

Fresh from his exploits at Tweseldown last weekend, Baloo (Darola Diamond) demonstrated considerable improvement in the Dressage arena to record the best score of his Novice competition career, before producing a typically convincing clear Show Jumping round. Some time penalties over the Cross Country course however would ultimately see him slip to a still impressive fourth in section.

Meanwhile, Borde Hill marked Liz’s first opportunity to ride Chailey Stud’s latest addition, Trevor (Endymion Entrechat). Despite only having a few days together prior to the event, the pair were never outside of the Open Novice’s top two thanks to an ultra competitive Dressage performance (scoring just 22), a foot-perfect clear Show Jumping round and an extremely strong Cross Country performance (only 1.2 time fault points).

Liz Halliday: “What a great weekend! A victory, two seconds and a fourth is a pretty good return for all the hard work we’ve put in at Chailey Stud so far this year. Benny winning by over six points was a great way to start on Saturday in what were very warm conditions and I was extremely pleased to carry that form into Sunday with Tango, Baloo and Trevor. It was a strong Novice course and a very hot day, so I was delighted with how well the horses performed in all three phases. I must say that our new horse Trevor was amazing from start to finish. We’ve not had long to work together but he has handled the transition very well after spending five years with his previous rider. Tango and Baloo have also come on leaps and bounds and I am very pleased with how hard they tried this weekend.”

Liz will be back in Eventing action this Friday and Saturday at the Eridge Horse Trials in Kent where eight of Chailey Stud’s horses have been entered.