Sarah Higgins and Laura Tomlinson became the winners of the four titles to be earned at small tour level at the 2024 British Dressage Championships at Somerford Park on 13 - 15 September 2024. Sadie Smith claimed victory at medium tour level in the Intermediaire II.
Prix St Georges: Sarah Higgins on Geniaal
A class of 38 riders took to the main arena in the Fairfax Saddles Prix St Georges Gold Championships, where Sarah Higgins took her first ever National title with Sarah Rao’s KWPN bred gelding Geniaal (by Vivaldi x Biotop).
Sarah and Geniaal topped the class with a score of 73.000%, just under 3% higher than their nearest competitor. Speaking of her first National Championship win, Sarah said “It feels pretty amazing, I was saying to my Mum and my trainers and friends, ‘is this ever going to happen!’ He’s such a generous horse and I’m so, so lucky to have managed to pick up the ride to ride him here.”
The 13 year old bay gelding is owned and ridden by Sarah Rao, but the two riders work very closely together. Despite Geniaal not being a regular ride for Sarah (Higgins), she speaks of what an “amazing” and “generous” horse he is to allow her to “hop on and go so nicely”.
“I did have high expectations, I knew if we were on form we could have a real good shot at it, but at the same time I rode him yesterday for the first time in a month, I did one competition with him at Myerscough Premier League.”
On the relationship with Sarah Rao, Sarah said “I think you learn so much from watching, so as much as I’ve not done so many tests on him I’ve watched Sarah every day, I think that’s really helpful for me. My trainers are Richard Davison and Hannah Moody, who are here today helping me, and have helped both myself and Sarah on him as well so they know him inside out and back to front – the whole team together works really well.”
Despite her test taking place during the worst of the weather, Sarah and Geniaal didn’t let that phase them “when I was doing my extended walk I noticed hail stones in his plait! His extended walk and the piaffe into canter were a highlight – that would be his trickiest part of the test and unfortunately today that was the moment that the rain and the hail really started coming down. I was really proud of how focussed he was with me, and really pleased with that. He just felt lovely to ride, he always does to be honest.”
On her experience of competing at the Nationals, Sarah, who is based just 20 minutes down the road from Somerford and spends a lot of time here, said “I love competing, I love coming here I think it’s a fantastic show and as much as it’s nice seeing everyone winning all the time, for me once in a while it’s really cool. The main arena feels really special riding into it, you wouldn’t really recognise it as the same place with the stands and everything. And for me having so many friends here it’s nice to have so many people.”
In second place was Nicola Buchanan and St Giles Flamboyant with 70.147%, followed by Becky Moody on her first appearance at the Nationals since returning from her bronze Olympic medal win in Paris, with Magic Dream on 70.029%.
Prix St Georges Kur to Music: Sarah Higgins on Geniaal
After claiming her very first National title on day one at the 2024 Championships, Higgins went on to achieve the Prix St Georges double on day two, becoming Fairfax Saddles Supreme Champion with Geniaal.
In the Freestyle, Sarah truly reigned supreme with a fantastic winning score of 77.1505, ranking a unanimous first amongst Peter Storr (E), Jane Critchley (H), Isobel Wessels (C), Nick Burton (M) and Leanne Wall (B).
“It’s a total dream to be honest,” Sarah said after her prize giving, “I hardly slept last night I was just so excited! Today I think when I got into the arena I just felt much more relaxed and I really enjoyed riding him. It feels amazing!”
Sarah managed to pull it all together at the last minute for her freestyle win, borrowing good friend Amy Woodhead’s Prix St Georges programme to be able to take part in the class: “I don’t have my own music for him so thankfully my good friend Amy stepped in at the last moment...this morning! I rode the four-year-old this morning and focused on those, and then as soon as I got home I sat and watched the test video over and over again!”
“The horse is so amazing to ride and so easy in lots of ways, you don’t to think crazy amounts, so I could take the time to listen to the music as well as riding him.”
“He’s generous, that’s the best way to describe him. For me as a trained, training Sarah on him, he’s taken me to places I could have never dreamed of. We’ve both won internationals on him and for one horse to give two people that much back is quite extraordinary really. He’s a very special boy,” Sarah concluded, reflecting on the Vivaldi-sired stallion who’s a shining example of how special the horse-human relationship is.
Second place belonged to Becky Moody with Jo Cooper’s seven-year-old Magic Dream (by Governor x Swarovski) on a super score of 74.975%, whilst Matt Frost and his own Sezuan-sired Kerouac completed the podium with 73.725%.
Intermediaire I: Laura Tomlinson on Forest Hill
It was a double placing for Laura Tomlinson in the Inter I Championship, taking first place on Forest Hill with a score of 71.765% and second place on Full Moon II with a score of 71.147%.
Both Forest Hill and Full Moon II are homebred, Laura describes them as “pretty uncomplicated” and tells us about their personalities and her progress with Forest Hill, “he gets more and more up for it in the ring at the moment. He hits his diagonals and sort of takes off with me like ‘lets go mum’ so it’s really nice feeling that change in him and how he’s starting to become a bit more ambitious himself.”
With just over 0.6% between the two placings, Laura explains why she thinks Forest Hill had the edge, “he's got super expressive changes which help at that level. Sometimes he’s over enthusiastic but I think that’s probably where he won, when he gets it right, it’s got a little bit more pizazz.”
Speaking on the eight-year-old, “each time he moves up a level, he’s finding a new gear a little bit. He’s not the most spectacular but he’s just super correct and every time you ask a little bit more to go up a level, he’s got the right answers and he’s just really fun to work with.”
The gelding is described to us as “really cuddly, very hungry, very sleepy. He likes to sleep, eat and cuddle! He’s a lot quieter than Full Moon, he’s quite vocal if you walk onto the yard he says hi! Full Moon’s a lot more in your face to handle in general, he’s just all over you! They’re both like big dogs!”
Third place went to Andrew Gould and Active Solaris with a score of 70.882%.
Intermediaire I Kur to Music: Tomlinson on Forest Hill
Laura Tomlinson went on repeat in the Intermediaire I Kur to music class, winning the class title aboard Full Moon. After placing second with this horse in the Inter I, they won the freestyle on 76.475%
Intermediaire II: Sadie Smith on Swanmore Dantina
Sadie Smith was the standout performer in the Intermediate II Championship, achieving 74.147% with her own Swanmore Dantina in front of Jane Critchley (E), Mary-Ann Horn (H), Mary Robins (C), Jane Peberdy (M) and Leanne Wall (B).
Swanmore Dantina (by Dante Weltino x Charatin), known as ‘Dia’, is the apple of Sadie’s eye and continues to be the perfect dancing partner almost every time she’s in the arena. “She’s always great,” Sadie commented, “I very rarely have a show where she isn’t on form. She goes in with her ears pricked and always tries to do what I want. She was relaxed and yet I can still pick her up and do the harder things, I just love her to bits.”
“I think because I’ve had her since she was three I know that I can take risks and I pretty much know it’s going to come off, I just have a really good relationship with her.”
Speaking about how they have both found the step up to Inter II, the final stepping stone on the way to Grand Prix, she continued, “I was really pleased today because she’s only done three tests previous to this, at this level, today was definitely the most confident she has been in the piaffe and we’ve been really working on that. We’re both quite new and green to the level and today is was much more on the button, which was really cool.”
The Hampshire based rider and trainer has thrived since she made the brave step to go independent, and spoke about how she’s progressed at home with Dia on the way to this achievement: “I’m based on my own now and I don’t have the constant support of having a trainer there all the time so we’ve both had to just feel our way. We do go back to Carl’s for regular training there but I’ve just been taking my time to get her stronger, so that we’re both confident to do it all.”
As only the second rider in the class to break the 70% barrier, Michael Eilberg and MSJ Dante (by Dante Weltino x Don Gregory) looked a class combination for the future scoring 73.500% to place as close runners up. Whilst Alex Harrison and the pint-sized powerhouse Kickback (by Galaxie x Florencio I) enjoyed third place with a score of 69.735%.
Complete scores here.
-- Text by British Dressage, edited by Eurodressage - Photos © Kevin Sparrow
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