22/10/2009 09:35:00

Halliday ends season with Tweseldown victory

Liz Halliday brought her 2009 eventing season to a close with another victory last weekend.

The dual sportswoman, who combines careers as a 3 Day Eventer and trainer with that of a professional racing driver and performance driving coach, won the Open Pre-Novice category of the British Eventing Horse Trials at Tweseldown riding her horse Donovan (Intrepid).

The event marked a return to competition for Donovan who has missed the past four months due to a muscle injury. What was planned as a gentle return to action became a complete domination of the Open Pre-Novice category as Donovan, who started the year with second place in the CCI* event at Barroca D’Alva in Portugal, led from start to finish.

A score of 25.5 put Halliday and Donovan in the lead after Dressage and double-clear rounds in the Show Jumping and Cross Country tests secured the win.

“It’s very nice for Donovan to win his comeback event,” said Halliday. “He’s been out since June with a muscle strain and a stifle injury, but performed really well considering he hasn’t competed for so long. He’s a very promising young horse and hopefully this result means that he is back on track for next season.”

Liz also competed with three other horses at Tweseldown with Fox (Red Letter Day II) continuing his comeback in the Intermediate category and both Ollie (Volien) and Vinny (Vincenzo) taking part in their second ever Novice-level events.

Fox scored solidly in the Dressage test and had two rails down on a testing Show Jumping course before going clear in the Cross Country. A final finishing position of 17th was less important to Halliday than his overall display.

“Despite having two rails down, He actually jumped really well during the Show Jumping on a layout that caused a lot of problems for everybody,” said Liz. “His Cross Country performance was great and he felt back to his normal self again which is great news.”

Ollie has now finished inside the top ten in both her Novice category events after securing a tenth place finish. The young horse again showed progress and was one of only a handful of entrants to post a double-clear, as the challenging Show Jumping course again caught out several competitors.

Vinny finished in 14th place after struggling in the Show Jumping, although he did go clear in the Cross Country.

“Vinny is normally such a great jumper that I had him looked at by the vet after the event,” said Liz. “It looks like he is a bit sore in his hind quarters due to the work he has been doing lately since his step up to novice, but nothing that won't improve as he continues to get stronger, which is great news.” said Liz. “I am not worried about him as he is a super jumper and I believe he has a big future. If he does not get sold this winter then I hope to keep the ride on him for next year.