Two lovely young event horses for Sammi to ride in the 5 year olds class and whilst it was a very big deal for Direct Golden Girl (GG) and for Kincooley Read My Mind (Lola) Sammi was definitely looking wistfully towards the other side of the Park where the main event was taking place!

GG got first go as the final is run in alphabetical order of the horse names. Having left home at 3am and then departed from Rodney Powell's yard at 4 am it was a surprisingly bright crew that were tacking up at 8.30 am! GG is a big young horse with an enormous canter stride and Sammi did a great job with her. She is a pretty laid back kind of girl but even she found the big ring, the crowds and in particular the big flapping flags by the dressage ring a tad too much!

Having sat the plunging in the test Sammi then jumped a really lovely showjumping round to just have a rail and then executed her usual smart cross country riding over the few fixed obstacles at the end. GG didn't make it into the final but it was a great experience for her.

Lola is a smart young mare and she coped really well with the atmosphere to post an accomplished test and a very nice clear jumping round. She too looked classy over the few cross county fences and Sam saw a great forward distance to the final brush bullfinch which must have helped to get her through to the final 10!

The podium eluded them though and it was 10th spot after the last gallop. Its always a bit of a show class and you have to nail a smile on your face and remind yourself that you really do have a super smart horse! It takes a whole season to get here and its a massive achievement to even get to the final.

And then finally Sammi got to go and have a look at the cross country fences for the 5 star....hopefully 2020 will see her back at the main event!