A pair’s class with an entry of 30 kicked off at 8.30.am. and finished at 9.14.a.m. with the novice class of 48 teams commencing at 9.15 a.m. These classes were run to a bogey time.

As it was Remembrance Sunday the course was cleared at 11.00 a.m. for the two minutes silence, even the horses seemed to recognise the relevance of the silence and not a whinny was heard.

The Humberts Open Qualifier had an entry of 16 teams, It was the final course for builder Roger Clarke, who has decided to retire and hand over the reins to son Andrew and Eric Kimble, both of whom are very enthusiastic and each year come up with a feature fence, this year it was Eric’s ‘E’ a slightly slanting post and rail up to full height, which needed accurate riding, with an alternative three element bounce fence. The water had also been modified from previous years and rode well, with fewer ducking than previous years. Andrew and Eric have plans for next year with some exciting new fences and some new hedges. A vote of thanks must go out to Roger for all his hard work in the past and hopefully he will enjoy watching the developments on the course in the future.

First team to come under starters orders were the Hamptons Hedge Hoppers, with Mel Williams on Jonno, Jon Sumner on Ernie, Janet Melling on Liberty and Emily Vcrossman on Caddy set off full of running and had a relatively trouble free round except for a run out at the water by Emily Crossman they all jumped the new fence very neatly and showed that by taking a pull it jumped well.

Alpha 1st with lead Nerissa Brady on Tellitasitis, Chris White on Fox Lane Pepper, Gillian Higgins on Fred and James Hale on Bay Panther, also gave a neat performance with a very respectable time of 5mins 11.52 secs which eventually placed them 8th.

It is good to see some new teams coming up into the Open and the Chilled Out Chasers who were 9th at the Essex & Suffolk the previous week had a great round finishing in a time of 5mins. 07.83 secs which gave them 7th place and qualification for the championships at the Fernie next Spring the team of Simon Gooding on Stally, Marie McGuiness on Star, Jancey Wembridge on Whos Dilemma and Marysia Orzazewska on Carrie were over the moon to have qualified.

Next to go were the Boring Gorings, led away by Fred French on his super horse Stig, with Nick Fuller on Coco, Linda Adams on Denzil and Bryan Allen, unable to ride with the Teme Valley due to all their injuries, on Indy. Although they lost Nick Fuller at fence four the other three gave their usual polished performance with Linda taking over the lead towards the end of the course as usual. They stopped the clock in a terrific time of 4mins 38.03 seconds, which was now the time to beat.

Fight the Ban team of Richard and Peter Mason, Ben Pauling and Millie Stewart-Wood knew exactly what they had to beat and set off in their usual ‘do or die’ style covering the ground at an extremely fast pace, there were a few hairy moments but luckily they all saw a stride at the ‘E’ fence and the new target time to beat was theirs in 4mins 22.44 secs.

The Cunning Stunts team of Tony Woodward on his ever youthful Duggan, Sue Tideswell on Inch, Alice Pearson on Finn and Bryan Allen on Mish flew over the first 6 fences however, a few steering problems along the way didn’t help, but they still stopped the clock in a good time of 4mins 48.61 secs gaining them 6th place.

Another new team to step up into the Open, Strictly Team Chasing were next to go, the team of Ollie Morrison on Shaabs Legacy, Ed Hemmings on Hoo’s Harry, Lara Strutt on Billy Beetroot and Georgie Beach on Incas Image had a very steady but safe round, taking the easier bounce option at the ‘E’ fence they must have been extremely pleased with themselves and their horses, well done to you all.

Humberts, our very generous new sponsors, have a team riding under their name, Humbert Hagglers. Fred French this time riding Wilmington was joined once again by Linda Adams riding Flex, Tamara Vestey, and Fraser Marshall riding Roys Charm. But for a most unfortunate fall for Fraser Marshall when Roys Charm pecked on landing over the hedge before the ‘E’ fence they would have had an immaculate round, as it was their finishing time of 4mins 40.26secs gave them 5th place and the 1st of the qualifying places for the Championships.

Hopes were high when the Trifast Allstars came under starters orders, but when Jos Hanbury went out of the side door at the first water jump and Jo Jewell took a very rare ducking when Fuzylogic did one of his huge leaps at the third water their chances were over. The ups and downs of team chasing, last week a ‘win’ at the Meynell this week a ‘drowning’ at the Bicester.

Another new team Terrestial Flying Objects Diane Wethered, Nicky Rickman, Edward Nicole and Stuart Radbourn enjoyed a lovely round, Diane did retire when she became a bit detached but their time of 5mins 24.16 secs gave them 9th place and a with a great deal of excitement when the team collected their rosettes.

Pickworths Paradox were lead off by Ben Pauling on Paradox with Rowan Cope, Will Fox-Grant and Simon Coady. But after losing Simon Coady, Ben was not so lucky with Paradox unable to see the stride at the ‘E’ fence and they too took a crashing fall, fortunately both horse and rider appeared none the worse.

Hair Raisers were next to go, unfortunately Aly Brown had a fall on the flat during the week breaking her collar bone, which had to be plated, so she is grounded for a while, her place in the team was taken by Nick Fuller, Allan Brown led them away on his super new horse Max, it is great to see Allen on a good horse again, with Paul Thomason on Tiny and Penny Still on Otter, who took the easier option at the ‘E’ fence. As usual the Hair Raisers never appear to be covering the ground at terrific speed but with accurate jumping and some really tight corner cutting they are always a joy to watch. Some very forceful vocals from Paul Thomason as they galloped to the finish failed to get them home in a winning time but 4mins 31.61 secs gave them a well deserved third place.

Berkeley ‘R’ Us with Thomasia Rowe on Topper, Nelson, Rowe on Fred, Vicky Thatcher on Manny and Sarah Meredith on Bailey were unfortunate to have the second fall of the day at the ‘E’ fence when Vicky Thatcher parted company with Manny, despite the fall they managed to record a time of 5mins 25.9 secs and the final placing of 10th.

Last to go the Sherwood Forge Flyers only had three team members, but with Debbie Topping on the indefatigable Junior leading Graham Smith on Chloe and Paul Browse on Sox the competition was not yet over. The Flyers, like the Hair Raisers are a joy to watch and Junior just loves the game, all three jumped the ‘E’ fence without one single hoof hitting the top rail, the only team to accomplish this all afternoon. The clock stopped at 4mins 27.21 secs giving them 2nd place.

The full result being
1st Fight the Ban
2nd Sherwood Forge Flyers
3rd Hair Raisers
4th Boring Gorings
5th Humbert Hagglers
6th The Cunning Stunts
7th The Chilled Out Chasers
8th Alpha 1st
9th Terrestial Flying Objects
10th Berkeley ‘R’ Us

The Intermediate class, with twenty four teams entered, was won by Details To Follow! with A Class Act second and Fight the Ban 2 third and the novice by the Little Chasers.

I do hope I have managed to give an accurate account of the day’s proceedings as I am extremely jet lagged, please let Mick know if there are any discrepancies.

Netty Nevill