The intermediate class in the morning attracted an entry of 31 teams, the Generation Gap were unable to make it three wins in a row, as they were beaten into second place by just over a second by the Berkeley 'R' Us team of Vicky Meek, Simon Vatcher, John Riddiford and Thomasina Rone, with the Golden Valley Border Raiders third and the Wheatland Flyers fourth.

The Open course had been altered this year and hopefully next year, when the whole farm is to be put down to permanent pasture it will improve further, with several new hedge lines and stone walls.

There are several influential fences on the Heythrop course, the first being the pen which is extremely tight and making a mistake costs a twenty second penalty, the next fence that causes a great deal of planning and team tactics is the Heythrop Headache the rules for this fence have been altered this year, three or four horses have to be over a line twenty metres in front of the fence before the first horse can jump part A, three of these horses then have to fan out and jump a different part of section B, when this is jumped correctly it is quite spectacular viewing. There are then two further fences that cause problems a pair of offset gates at right angles to a set of tyres, again this takes precision jumping and getting it wrong can cost many vital seconds.

Nineteen teams were entered for the Open which is the last qualifier before the Championships next week at the Fernie,. First to go the Court Flyers had to run with only three after Claire Pendleton's lead horse Edd injured himself in the lorry, the remaining three had loads of problems and finally called it best at the pipes. Next to go the Rappell Hair Raisers II, who were desperate to qualify for the championships were having a good round until they made a mistake at the pen and then Allen Brown who had already had three refusals on his horse Bert continued on the course thus eliminating the rest of the team. Next to go The Dominoes retired after several problems. Then The Odds & Sods, also down to three riders, set off with great aplomb and were having one of the best runs for a long while until they made a mistake at the Heythrop Headache and unfortunately Geoff Lockwood had three refusals at the second part so they too were eliminated. Smac Atac were the fifth team to go and they too were eliminated.

The Beaufort Bluffers team of Tony Pellet, Liz Hibberd, Amy Ephgrave and Renee Phelan were the first team to complete the course and in a very respectable time of 5.57.64 which eventually earned them a well deserved 6th place and qualification for the championships. Next the Fosse Manor Hotel team with Tom Gittins, Sophie Pauling, deputising for brother Ben who was point to pointing, Camilla Bovill and Iona Hoare were the first team to get the Heythrop Headache absolutely perfect and were well up on the clock until Sophie's horse Up 'n' Off slipped up on the flat three fences from home leaving the fourth members horse to count giving them a time of 6.07.16 this was good enough to earn them 7th place and the very last qualification place for the championships.

The Tangos team of Paul Bowes, Carolyn Smith, Julie Dunne and Gavin -the Farrier - (sorry Gavin, Paul could not remember your surname) had a slight problem when they ran off the tyres in an otherwise superb round setting the standard in a time of 5.26.91 this was now the time to beat.

Excitement was now mounting as The Knightly Hatters, who have had two good wins this season set off, they were reduced to three riders after the injury to Lucy Bland the previous week, and were led off as usual by Ian Shipley, with brother Andrew and Lucy Hyde-Thompson they arrived at the pen in an extremely fast time but unfortunately in their best efforts to get all three in the pen together, the third rider just did not have enough room and slipped out the side, they then seemed to decide to give it best no doubt saving their horses for the championships next week.

The Bitch Pack, who were next to go, were unfortunately without Rosie Vestey as her horse was not quite right, they could not afford to make any mistakes, Sophie Rooker on Taurus, led them off with Fiona Russell-Brown on Dash and Rupert Sturgis on Joker they gave a copy book performance getting all the influential fences spot on, stopping the clock in a time of 5.19.47 knocking 7 seconds off the Tangos time.

Game for a Giggle were next to go, Alice Paine had a crashing fall at the second fence but remounted and made a gallant attempt to catch her three team mates, they also had trouble at the pen with a run out costing them the 20 seconds time penalty, however they completed the course in 6.58.97, The Hampshire Hedge Hunters also managed to complete the course but had a few problems along the way and managed a time of 7.38.79.

The Boring Gorings were called to the line next, George Goring was absent due to lack of horse power, his place being taken by Linda Adams on Denzil, who is going really well this season, with Fred French leading off, John Perry on George and Becky riding brother Richard Goring's horse Dan the Man, it looked likely they were about to steal the lead from the Bitch Pack, however they could not quite manage it and finished less than a second outside the time. So the competition was now hotting up and with the next team to go being the Prestige Horseboxes Forge Flyers excitement was mounting. Debbie Topping and Junior led off in their usual style with Graham Smith, Sarah Bailey and Joss Hanbury (deputising for Yvonne Goss who is still out injured from her fall at the V.W.H.) in hot pursuit, the pen at the Heythrop has proved to be problematic for the Forge in previous years but this time they got it right and were up on the clock when they came to the Heythrop Headache, which unfortunately caught them out, they finished in a time of 5.19.59s just 0.12seconds outside the Bitch Pack's time, thus placing them second and pushing the Gorings down to third, the first three teams now had less than 1 second between them.

Pickworths Prerogative were unfortunate to lose Helen Stewart with a fall, but the other three continued and finished in a respectable time of 6.08.96 to give them 8th place.

The Beaufort Team and the Mixed Pack both retired, and the only team left to challenge the Bitch Pack were the Rappell Hair Raisers I, Aly Brown and the grey Dragon led husband Allen on Biggles, Paul Thomason Hugo and Mike Elvin Sam, they took up the challenge but despite some tight cornering and angling the big hedges at the top of the course, they could only manage a time of 5.35.17 putting them in 5th place.

Many congratulations to the Bitch Pack who thoroughly deserved their win.

Before the prize giving Richard Goring deputised for twin brother George to do the draw for the Championships next Sunday. All 25 qualifiers were in the draw although they may not all enter, the drawn order is as follows:-

1) The Prestige Horse Boxes Forge Flyers
2) Smac Atac
3) Thoroughly Bred
4) Fosse Manor Hotel Team
5) Bunny Hill Toppers
6) Knightly Hatters
7) Teme Valley Tiggers
8) Teme Valley Tigers
9) Rappell Hair Raisers
10) Boring Gorings
11) Pickworths Paradox
12) Beaufort Bluffers
13) Plough Plodders
14) Readyfield Fools & Horses
15) Old Codgers & Whippersnappers
16) Badsworth & Bramham Moor Band B's
17) Tango's
18) Fox Grant Chasers
19) Northern Spirit
20) The Beauforts
21) The Wasps
22) The Centaurs
23) Bitch Pack
24) Motley Crew
25) Malt Mix Double Trouble

Good luck to all the qualifiers for the Championships.

Netty Nevill