Halliday guides Vimto to first ever Eventing victory

Dual sportswoman Liz Halliday took victory at the Tweseldown Horse Trials at the weekend as the young horse she has been riding, Vimto (Redos), took a first-ever eventing win in the Pre-Novice category.

Vimto, who was added to Halliday’s stable this spring, had finished in the top seven in each of his first five events and showed further strong progress by coming out on top in the 36-horse strong class.

A score of 28.0 in the Dressage test had left Vimto lying third overall, before a double clear with no time faults on the Show Jumping and Cross Country sections secured victory.

“It’s a really encouraging result and one that I think has been on the cards for a few weeks,” said Halliday. “Vimto has really taken to eventing very smoothly and his results are very exciting as we move forward.”

Ollie (Volien) also competed in the Pre-Novice class and was ranked highly following Dressage after posting a strong score of 29.0. A double clear again showed the young horse’s jumping prowess, although a handful of time faults meant a final finishing position of 15th.

Billy (Baladaghade) contested the Novice category and finished a strong 14th place overall. A 35.0 on Dressage was a solid start, before he became one of many horses to have a couple of rails down on a very challenging Show Jumping layout. He finished with a superb, clear cross country round and a finishing position good enough to secure a qualification for the Hartpury CCI* competition next month.

“Billy actually jumped very well in the Show Jumping, but the course caused loads of problems for everybody,” said Liz. “He was just a little too strong and inexperienced in the combinations so he got too close to the fences and had a couple down. His Cross Country round was really good though and now that he has secured his qualification, I’m sure he’ll go well at the international level. Considering that this is his first season of eventing, I have been really impressed with his progress so far.”

After returning to her native California this week, Halliday will be back in action at the Iping horse trials this weekend.

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