Piper calls the tune

A rescue horse lands the Pony Club title, Kitty King extends her super run of form and Pippa Funnell lets the handbrake off on a star campaigner

- MARTHA TERRY

TWO contrasting stablemates took home first and second prizes in the Pony Club 110 championships for their rider Charlie Piper, 19. Nine-year-old Just Sid was third after dressage but his fast double clear elevated him to the top spot on his first-phase score of 31. Another clean sheet, this time for 17.1hh Zadok D, aged 19, moved him up from sixth to finish runner-up on 32.6.

“They’re complete opposites, but on a good day they produce about the same result,” said Charlie representing the Polden Hills branch of the Pony Club.

Sid had an unusual start for a winning event horse.

“He was found as a foal in a ditch on the Quantocks when his owner, Anthony Hough, was walking his dog, and he pulled him out and handreared him,” Charlie explained. “We think he’s Quantock [moor pony] cross Arab.”

The veteran Zadok has also had an unorthodox trajectory.

“He was a pentathlon horse – but not a good one, so no one wanted him,” Charlie said. “I started eventing him when he was 15. It’s been difficult to get him here but we built up the trust and now he’s amazing.”

Just 0.3 of a penalty adrift, Darcy Rook, 17, was third with Camilla Kruger’s Rio Olympics ride Biarritz II.

“With an experienced horse you know they have the potential to do well, it’s whether I could let him do that,” said Darcy, who led her branch, the West Kent Sevenoaks, to team victory, with Katie Clyne, Abi Scott and Marcus Cook also in the team.

“Cross-country he’s amazing. The water [a double of hanging logs] was tough; I wasn’t expecting to share that with the three-star.”