‘Beach babe’ mare clinches inter II title by a single mark at the National Dressage Championships
Amy Woodhead secured her first “proper” national championship win at the Lemiex National Dressage Championships. Amy took the top spot in the Haygain inter II championship riding Mount St John Stud’s Mount St John Kom Fairytale.
It was a very close finish, with second-placed Anna Ross just one mark, or 0.04%, behind with Newton Domino. One judge had them equal, with while two others had Amy in front, and two favoured Anna. Lewis Carrier and Diego V – fresh from their 12th place individual finish at the under-25 European Dressage Championships last week – took third, less than 1% further behind Amy and Anna.
Amy has ridden the 15-year-old Furst Heinrich x Weltmeyer mare for just over 18 months, but with the intervention of Covid this season, this has been the first occasion on which she has ridden the mare competitively outside.
“I am so proud of her,” she declared. “I feel our partnership is growing all the time and when she is like she was today it feels so, so easy and she tried so hard in there for me.”
This is the mare’s first national title, having been competed at the National Dressage Championships by both Sam Duckworth and Charlotte Dujardin at lower levels, but never managing a win.
The Finnish-bred mare’s eldest progeny, MSJ Disney Fairytale was sold as a foal back to Finland and topped their three-year-old championship last year. This year she has an embryo transfer colt foal on the floor by Revolution, MS Romeo, who is lot 7 in the stud’s online sale of foals and mares next week.
Kom Fairytale is based with Amy at her Grimsby yard, other than trips north to Mount St John for stud work.
“She loves doing a bit of everything,” said Amy. “She loves jumping and is a real beach babe: she goes down to the beach most weeks, time, tide and weather dependant.”
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