An extraordinary two weeks of competition at Belsay concluded today with victory in the Houghton Country CCI1* for Sweden’s Erika Sjostrom. Riding Team Klangby’s nine-year-old mare Jantina, Erika added four cross-country time-faults to her leading dressage score of 27.8 and clear showjumping round.
“I started riding her last year,” Erika explained. “She’s absolutely incredible – when someone sees her in the dressage, they say, ‘Wow, she’s amazing at dressage’, and I say, ‘You should see her jump’, and when they see her jump, I say the same to them about the dressage. She’s been brilliant here. She was flying over everything across country.”
Erika moved to the UK to focus on an eventing career six years ago, and is based with Chris Bartle in Yorkshire.
“If you want to be an eventing rider, the UK is the place to be,” she said, adding: “Belsay is always an amazing event; really well-organised, and I love the cross-country courses. They are well built with very good questions that are easy for horses to understand.”
Mel Way was second on a finishing score of 33 on Secret Affair II, with Katie Brickman third on Black Jack V.
Today’s BE105 sections, sponsored by Baileys Horse Feeds and Mark Noble Animal Therapist, were won by Katie Magee (Newton B) and Isla Gordon (Castlefield Chicago).
Belsay (2), which ran from 28 May-1 June, hosted 25 international and national eventing classes, as well as arena eventing, a BSPS show, NSEA competitions, young horse performance classes and the Jobling-Purser Ltd Inter-Hunt relay. It took place just 10 days after the conclusion of Belsay (1), which ran from 16-18 May using almost entirely separate areas of the Belsay estate and different cross-country tracks designed by Adrian Ditcham and built by Rob McSkimming and his team. Belsay’s first CCI4*-S and Advanced classes took place during the first event, and the highly successful pair of events has raised this popular venue even higher in the sport’s consciousness.
Organiser Laura De Wesselow said: “We are exhausted but exhilarated. Everyone has worked so hard to make this happen, and we’ve had an enormous amount of fun along the way. Belsay has shown itself at its beautiful best in a variety of weather conditions. There will be lots of time for reflection, but now it’s time to get some sleep and start the breakdown and clearing up process. Thank you to absolutely everybody involved.”
To find out more information about Belsay, please visit www.belsayhorsetrials.com.
All the cross-country at Belsay can be watched on demand on Horse & Country TV’s livestreaming platform H&C+.
