Crown Hotel, Bawtry-sponsored event rider Mathew Wright stole the limelight at the Horse of the Year Show by winning the valuable Express Eventing Final in front of a packed arena at Birmingham’s NEC.
Riding If You Want II, Retford based Matthew jumped his way to victory in an exciting, down-to-the wire finish to scoop the £12,500 prize and set the seal on a season that has brought him over 20 other eventing successes.
Sixteen of some of eventing’s most well-known names, including former Badminton and Burghley winner Oliver Townend, Australian eventer Sam Griffiths and Chinese Olympian Alex Hua Tian, battled it out for a share of the £40,000 Express Eventing Final prize pot.
But Matthew, who teamed up with Bawtry’s popular four-star hotel in the summer, supplemented his three wins in this season’s Express Eventing Qualifiers.
A delighted Mathew said: “The plan was to take all four qualifiers and the final, but the Festival of British Eventing qualifier just slipped away from me to Sam Griffiths. I’m truly delighted to have won here today, and the win is a huge credit to the whole team who’ve got the horse and myself ready. This is a great new concept for equestrian sport.”
Chinese Olympic eventer Alex Hua Tian was the runner up with Grafenstolz. The combination finished just 0.30 of a penalty point behind Matthew, and with Harry Meade in third.
The Express Eventing 2011 Final, following the format of the Qualifiers, consisted of three arena-based disciplines: freestyle ‘dressage to music’, cross country and showjumping. The riders at the Final were the very best of those who competed at the four Qualifiers held around the country.
The Express Eventing Series 2011 has had a total prize pot of £100,000 with approximately £15,000 being allocated to each Qualifier and £40,000 to the Express Eventing Final at Horse of the Year Show.
Final results:
1st Matthew Wright If You Want II 18.51pens 2nd Alex Hua Tian Grafenstolz 18.81pens 3rd Harry Meade Tinka’s Time 22.38pens 4th Fiona Hobby Roma M.L 26.57pens 5th Sam Griffiths Real Dancer 32.45pens 6th Oliver Townend Brigadier 33.01pens 7th Paul Sims French Polish 36.19pens 8th William Murray Carlingford Shiver 36.54pens.
Ends.
Photo: Left to right - Matthew Wright, Craig Dowie Crown Hotel Director and Simon Mapletoft At The Races Presenter and Racing PR advisor for the Crown.
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