Breen steams to second Speed Derby success at Hickstead
Trevor Breen has a superb track record in the Bunn Leisure Speed Derby and he yet again showed his supreme skill round the unusual track to win in what was a hugely competitive revival. Irishman Trevor and his elder brother Shane now have two wins apiece in this class, and between them hold the record for the three fastest times.
Daniel Coyle (Special Leap) set the first sub-100sec time, but the quick times continued to come, with eventual third Harriet Nuttall (Highland Cruiser II) going clear in 97sec. Guy Williams then set the quickest time, but two fences down meant eight seconds were added to his time. Trevor was next and went clear, before Shane Breen set a quicker time – but one fence down cost him his chance of winning.
Trevor looked home and hosed, but last to go Ahmad Saber Hamcho gave Trevor a real fright, finishing clear and only just missing out on Trevor’s time to take second place. It was a brilliant ride from the Syrian rider, who was having his first attempt in the Bunn Leisure Speed Derby.
“I love the Speed Derby – it’s a real test for horse and rider. There are massive gallops between fences, and two banks, where every instinct is telling you to take a pull but you have to kick hard instead. You just have to be brave and hope your horse is brave too, thankfully my horse was brilliant today,” said Trevor.
Ahmad, who received a standing ovation from the crowd,
praised the showground. “The atmosphere at Hickstead is great, it’s one of the best shows I’ve been to,” he said.
Harriet Nuttall backed up her credentials in this class with her third placing, having finished runner-up in 2011.
Another young rider from the West Country triumphed earlier in the day in the Hickstead Derby Trophy, with the title going to Sammie Jo Coffin and Willem De Lux.
“I really didn’t expect to win, I just wanted to jump around and have a nice time,” said Sammie Jo. “I was just happy to go in the main ring as I’ve never been in it before. This is my first international show, and the atmosphere is amazing. ‘Will’ loved it, he really grew as soon as we rode in.”
Sammie Jo was delighted to finish ahead of Olympian Nick Skelton and the talented Big Star, who netted a steady double clear to go fourth.
“I watched Nick go and knew that I needed to keep it as tight as possible and to keep moving, and it went well. It feels amazing to have won and to beat Nick Skelton!” she said.
In the showing classes, Jayne Webber and Broadshard Simplicity won the Equimax Supreme Hack Championship, while the Osborne Refrigerators Scurry Driving Championship went to Charlotte Adams Lane and her ponies Balanced Chaz and Dave.
Sammie Jo Coffin, Photo by Samantha Lamb
Author of The Equestrian Athlete Plan Scoops Prize Most Innovative Fitness Entrepreneur 2012
Matt Luxton, author of The Equestrian Athlete Plan, based in the South West has seen his hard work and enthusiasm for improving people’s lives rewarded recently as he was presented with the award for Most Innovative Fitness Entrepreneur 2012 at the Aston Convention Centre in Birmingham.
Matt, a former pupil of Kelly College, Devon, was short-listed for the award, then was deemed the worthy winner thanks to his originality in designing the Equestrian Athlete Plan (EAP) and his recent barn conversion into a top-spec Personal Training studio.
The awards ceremony was the culmination of a weekend of seminars attended by the top fitness professionals from around the world and guest speakers including Matt’s mentor, Dax Moy, Europe’s Leading Body Transformation Coach.
Matt was rewarded for his innovation with the EAP and his Personal Training business that has enabled his clients to achieve constant and growing success, in geographical locations far wider than his West Devon base. His training systems and nutritional systems are being utilised world- wide as far as Australia and the USA with great success.
Matt, said that none of this would have been possible without the commitment of his clients, he explained “Without their full
Exmoor Pony Society backs Sweet Itch Research in Sweden
For the past 4 years the Exmoor Pony Society has been collecting blood and hair samples from affected and non-affected ponies for a joint project with the Animal Health Trust to carry out research into a possible genetic predisposition to Sweet Itch.
However the Animal Health Trust was unable to attract the necessary funding so the project has passed to researchers in Sweden who have recently been awarded 4 years funding of Euro 200,000 to start work in the autumn. Euro 25,000 are still required for the genotyping running costs.
The Exmoor Pony Society has donated £5,000 from its Scientific Research Fund and individual members have also been contributing to the cause.
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It was felt that the Exmoor Pony was a suitable breed to use for the study due to the small gene pool and to the accuracy of records in the Society Stud Book. Over recent years these have been verified by sampling the population for DNA analysis to check the accuracy of the breeders’ records.
This distressing condition occurs in most equine breeds and the research will hopefully assist in working out breeding programmes to reduce the incidence of the condition. The research should benefit all breeds and if any other society or individual would like to contribute towards the project then please contact Mrs Ruth Thomas at coedywern@tiscali.
co.uk for further details.
commitment to the results-driven system that I have put in place, I would not be getting the results that I have been, so a massive thank you must be made to them” Matt also wanted to thank Dax Moy and Paul Mort, the UK’s leading fat loss expert, for their persistent and continuing mentoring.
“Being extremely clear about what I wanted to create and the people I wanted to serve has only been made possible by Dax and Paul. Although they live far away from me the constant support has allowed me to deliver day in, day out to the people who I am lucky enough to serve2.
Matt’s self-defined purpose is to live his passion and share his knowledge. This manifests itself on a daily basis with the work he does with his one-to-one clients and The Equestrian Athlete Plan which can be found at www.
theequestrianathleteplan.com. Matt is looking forward to his next big project, The ‘Fad Free Fat Loss Formula’, which will be published and available in hard copy from Amazon by September 2012.
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