On the final day of the All England Jumping Championships at Hickstead, Phillip Miller and Caritiar Z won the All England Grand Prix for the second year in a row.
There were ten clears in the first round from the 66 starters in the show’s feature class, who all went through to the jump-off. Second to go Lucy Townley produced the first double clear in a time of 58.96sec, holding the lead for some time.
However, Phillip and the 16-year-old Caritiar Z, the Hickstead Derby winners in 2013, managed to take four seconds off Lucy’s time to jump into the lead. Only the reigning Templant Events Queen Elizabeth II Cup winner David Simpson could prevent Phillip from taking the £2,000 first prize. Although, David did produce the fastest time, but with four faults on Chessy 17 this left him in third place, with Phillip taking the title.
“He loves this ring – he is best on grass arenas, and the ground is perfect for him here,” said Phillip.
Lucy Townley, the daughter of Hickstead Director Edward Bunn and the granddaughter of the founder of the All England Jumping Course, Douglas Bunn had to settle for second place with Billy Fanta.
The All England Novice Championships went to Julie Draper and Lauren Limite, who saw off 31 rivals to win. The All England 1.20m Open Championship, which was held in memory of Sarah Davidson (a former event rider and instructor who sadly died last year), was won by Simon Crippen and Elstar.
The final class was the All England 1.30m Championship, which went to Zoe Adams and Satonamillion who are no strangers to winning at Hickstead, having took the title in the Amlin Plus Eventing Grand Prix here in 2013.
