KATHERINE Illingworth had the thrill of a lifetime when winning the Voltaire Design Grassroots Championship (BE 100) held at Badminton on Philip Adkins’ ‘Ballinoecastle Q’, a seven-year-old by ‘Obos Quality’.
Katherine, 27, who acts as head girl for Philip’s Cadenza Eventing yard in Northamptonshire, added nothing to her dressage score of 29.5 to finish 1.5 penalties ahead of Hannah Taylor, who has a three-fold career as an engineering student, part-time rider and pet portraitist, riding her own ‘Legaland Best One’.
Katie Stephens-Grandy, a farmer and photographer from North Yorkshire, was third on ‘Trendy Magic Touch’.
It was a big day for amateur riders, who unanimously declared their day on the hallowed turf of the Badminton park to be ‘brilliant’.
“The atmosphere is fantastic, everyone helps you,” said Katherine, who was quick to pay tribute to her employer.
“I am very lucky to compete Philip’s horses and I can’t thank him enough. He has put a lot of work and money into my riding.”
Siobhan Heneghan won the BE 90 championship on her mother Lisa’s ‘Mermured Promise’, an 11-year-old Irish-bred, iron-grey gelding by ‘Mermus’. She finished on her dressage score of 28, 1.5 penalties clear of runner-up Laura Gibson, a veterinary physiotherapist, on Sally Hayward’s ‘Gortglas Moonshine’. Third was Megan Elphick on her own
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