Equestrian Life May 2018 Issue

junior life
Harry Continues
to Reach for
THE STARS
We last featured Harry Wainwright in November last year
and Harry was KBS Gruvy Q's success coming 4th in
the Puissance at Arena UK.
Following Arena UK, he continued on to Olympia
where he came 8th in the National Under 23 Final on his horse called
Pinhiero Beech which he co-owns alongside Michael Whitaker and
Di Fairclough.
So fast, forward to this year and luckily this partnership seems to
be going from strength to strength, notching up the mileage in a
variety of classes both here and most recently abroad where they
competed at two 2* Shows, one in Lier Belgium and then continuing
onto Kronenbourg Holland jumping a Double Clear in their first 1.50
World Ranking Class which Harry said was very nerve racking but
amazing all at the same time!
Early April they returned from The Blue Chip Championships at
Hartpury, Gloucestershire, where Harry had a fantastic Show coming
2nd in the Blue Chip B&C Championship on his lovely mare Muckno
Princess by Carrick Diamond Lad, a horse he has produced for around
three years now and is truly now part of fixtures and fittings!
But the ‘piece de resistance’ was on the Friday night which is "Gala
Night" where spectators came to see a great night of entertainment
including a Junior Novelty Speed Class, a Demonstration by Geoff
Billington with a variety of horses, and the major Class of the
evening being The Blue Chip Grand Prix.
The course builder Bob Ellis built an up to height, technical track
causing many problems for quite a few of the 38 riders, ultimately
ending up with just nine clears going through to the jump off with
Harry and Pinhiero Beech being one of them.
Harry being drawn first in the jump off, in itself can be either a
hindrance or a godsend depending on your personal prospective as
a rider! Harry set himself the plan to jump a double clear, taking the
shortest route, but not to be taking any risks so hopefully, in theory,
all the rest of the field would chase his time and make mistakes.
Luckily they all did, except for Harry's local mate called Alex
Thompson, who turned inside a wing back to a good-sized upright to
shave a second of his time to take the top spot, but Harry was more
than happy with Pinhiero Beech taking second place as he jumped
absolutely brilliantly and gave his all to Harry, as the photos show!
Their next big test will be at the end of April competing at the
European Trials at Chepstow, where Team selection of the Young
Rider, Nations Cup Teams takes place.
We wish Harry lots of luck and that their current form continues.
After Chepstow, there are a couple of overseas events and then it is
back to the UK for the County Show circuit.
54 May 2018 Equestrian Life