Ascot Under Wychwood sounds like the sort of place where fairies play in an enchanted forest but in reality it is one of the smarter BE 100 events with a very grown up feel to it for the baby horses. Sammi had rather rashly put herself down for 5 to ride here which I thought was fine and entered her accordingly but no sooner had the confirmation come through than she offloaded one onto his owner!

To be fair Nicky Pack had a great day on Cooley Countdown ( Riz) to score 70% on the flat and a smooth double clear. Sammi, doing battle with her 4 horses, had times running from a very unsociable 8am through til 4.30 and there was frost on the ground when she arrived.... not easy for a girl from Australia!

Some very smart dressage tests brightened up the morning with Calcourt Verona ( Ringo) putting in an exceptionally flash 23.5, Kincooley Read My Mind ( Indie) a 31 on her second ever outing, the reliable Sheepdrove Cariad ( Carrie) a 28 and Calcourt Valley ( Kevin) in the 'could have tried harder' bracket for a 32.

Kevin then didn't waste any time in the air in the showjumping to pick up just 4 faults which was impressive as Sammi managed to get time 1 time fault with Ringo and 2 time faults with Indie! That is not an easy thing to do at this level on one horse, let alone two but there you go. To be fair Indie is very green and very careful so I can imagine how that panned out but they both jumped clear which is the man point. Carrie added 4 faults to his dressage score but didn't add time which must have been a relief. When I asked Sammi how it was possible to get time in a 100 showjumping she just replied "Easily!" Then she sent me the video below and as you can see between 1 and 2 she spent a bit of time practising her counter canter and very nearly popped into the trade stands on the far corner of the arena.

Time is what cost Sammi the win last weekend and she used Kevin to practise on coming home clear jumping and just one second over for 0.4 faults. Next out was Ringo and she was in the lead so Sammi perfected her cross country riding to come home clear and under time for the first win of 2019 and Ringo's first win for his new owner, Kyrle Arscott. Kyrle had many ups and downs eventing with her beloved The Court Jester and its great to see that she had a winner again as I think the last time was in April 2016 when Jester pulled out all the stops to win Burnham Market CIC 2 star. He didn't really bother that much after that apart from picking up allot of seconds in OI's which were his happy place.... anything more than that he found a bit taxing and couldn't really be arsed. I think Ringo will be much more fun!

Indie then went bravely around her first 100 which was great for such a careful horse and to her owners relief (Susan Lamb and Lyndon McCleod) Sammi didnt have the 20 at fence 1 this time which was an even bigger achievement. 9.2 time is more than acceptable and I am sure Sammi enjoyed it immensely.

Carrie also added nothing else to his score to pick up his first top 10 placing with Sammi and he ended a very enjoyable and successful day.