Due to the unseasonably dry weather over 200,000 gallons of water had been used on the take off and landings and even though the going was still firm and several horses slipped up on the flat there were no serious injuries.

Once again the spectators were bathed in glorious sunshine and a wonderful day was had by all.

Nearly forty teams were sent off in the Novice class against a bogey time, which had been deliberately set at a relatively slow time to encourage careful riding in the conditions. The class was won by the Sharnford Tractor 4 x 4's comprising Sally Lane, Tammy Courser, Katherine Charlton and Bryony Martindale. It was good to see the Home Team - Sam Arthurs, his wife Ann, daughter Caroline and Ian James in the placings.

The Intermediate Class which is designed specifically to bridge the gap between Novice and Open had all the right ingredients with some superb hedges in the first part, then a few respite fences before more sizeable hedges to finish the course, it rode extremely well and was won in fine style by the Hopwas Hooligans, this team had been reduced to just husband and wife David and Corrine Whitehead two weeks before the start of the season but after a few frantic phone calls they were loaned Mark Williams from the Marston Misfits, and with great verbal encouragement from Corinne, Mark managed to cut all the corners and stay with them for a well deserved win. Second place went to the Welsh Wizzards team of Kenton and Nicola Jones, and Emily and Jake Cox, who were just under a second behind the leaders, The Fosse Manor Again team of Tom Gittins, Ben Pauling and Peter Mason, all sons of the original Fosse Manor Team members were well up on the clock when Ben Pauling's horse slipped on the approach to the 7th fence and his circle cost them several valuable seconds, eventually placing them in third The Mill Farm Allsorts kept up their good form from the Grafton finishing 4th only four seconds off the leading time.

Nine teams contested the Open class, one of the series of Goring Hotel Qualifiers for the National Championships, first to go the Rappell Hair Raisers I led off by Paul Thomason - Zebedee with Mike Elvin - Chats, Shaun Cookson - Zig Zag and Graham Smith had a few near misses but set the target time of 251.2 seconds, Thoroughly Bred were next to go Sharon Brook- Sam, David Harrison - Bandit, Wendy Hayes - Chessie, and Sue Little - Khan, they were having a great round until they approached the big hedge at 14 when Wendy Hayes horse decided to take off a stride too early and landed on the hedge, Sue Little then parted company with Khan, but with both horses and riders back up on their feet Sue little had a leg up from Wendy as she was determined to finish the course after falling last week at the Grafton.

Third to go the Teme Valley Tigers Neil and Clare Reid-Warrilow - Sprite and Breeze, Angie Murphy- Lad and Sarah Myhill - Connor were entered in the Intermediate Class but after walking both courses they realised they would like to take on the challenge of the Open and put in a superb round to finish in a time of 271.5 seconds picking up a well deserved 6th place. The Trifast Allstars Mike Roberts- Double Trouble, Richard Chandler - Broadcaster, Jo Jewell- Hanky Panky and Joss Hanbury - Chapaqua once again rode a perfect round, they really are a joy to watch, although they were obviously riding mindful of the firm going and did not push on, finishing in a time of 262.4 seconds to put them into 5th place. Next to go were the Rappell Hair Raisers II - Alan Brown - Biggles, Aly Roberts - Dragon, Paul Thomason - Bolger and Larry Brown Bertie, Paul was giving them a great lead until Bolger lost a hind leg at the 13th and had to pull into fourth, he then managed to survive a hairy moment at fence 18 when he had a mid air collision with Larry Brown and when Alan Brown ran along the third hedge from home their chances of a win had gone. Next to go were the Marston Misfits - Caroline Doody - Syd, Richard Goring - Toast, Sharon Robbins - McFlurry and Dave Murphy on his point to point horse which had never team chased before but seemed to be going reasonably well until he over jumped the first big open ditch depositing Dave ceremoniously on the deck. Caroline Doodys horse appeared not to be his usual positive self and was tailing off, he pulled up really lame and was found to have split his frog.

The atmosphere was buzzing when the Boring Gorings rode to the start with our most generous sponsor of this Goring qualifier George riding his super horse Empire State Building, Fred French - Three seasons, John Perry and Mike Hammond they set off at their usual hectic pace and had they managed to cut a few more corners they would have been serious contenders but finished a well deserved third in a time of 256.11 seconds.

The Forge Flyers, last but one to go, stormed to victory once again in an amazing time of 234.12 seconds with that incredible horse Junior leading the way for Debbie Topping, ably backed up by Graham Smith on Cody who deservedly was awarded the 'Team Hero' award rug at the presentation, Yvonne Goss - Perry and Rob Statt - Rolo.

Last to go the Knightly Hatters, Andrew and Ian Shipley - Pushover and Pepper, Lucy Hyde-Thompson - Monty came to grief at fence 7 and so once again the spoils had gone to the Forge.

The spectators had been treated to a feast of team chasing with 70 teams competing throughout the day and the competitors were full of praise for the wonderful course.

Netty Nevill.