Preview: Keysoe High Profile and Small Tour Champs

The final High Profile Show of 2018 is underway at Keysoe EC (6 – 9 December 2018) with many of the UK’s top riders heading to the Bedfordshire venue. Classes at all levels up to Grand Prix and FEI tests for Pony riders and Children on Horses, plus the 2018 Small Tour Championships, have attracted a wealth of talented competitors.

Sarah Williams with Georgina Howard’s Bohigas W, who’ve enjoyed the year of their career so far with a PSG fourth, Inter I second and Inter I Freestyle win at Nice CDI3* in October will be ones to watch in tomorrow’s Fairfax Saddles Prix St Georges. The class kicks off at 9.15 in the morning and there are some good competitors forward. Emily Harris presents Fay Thomas’s eight-year-old Fidertanz-sired mare Freya FST, an exciting young prospect in her first year of PSG, and the Junior Prime Squad combination of Samantha Willson and Delhuren’s Sunshine, in their first season of PSG, feature too.

The 2018 Small Tour Championships certainly look to be a competitive affair. Commencing Saturday afternoon at 13.00, the PSG start list features Lizzie Murray with Ian McRobbie’s seven-year-old Uthopia daughter Ulyssa and Sara-Jane Lanning with Mi Amigo who claimed the Prix St Georges Freestyle at the Bronze and Sumer Music Championships earlier this year.

The Inter I, starting at 16.22 on Saturday, boasts great combinations too, including last year’s Small Tour PSG Champions Lara Edwards with Laura Milner’s nine-year-old Jazz son, Jazzed Up (pictured), young rider Daisy Coakley and Aramis T and the popular combination of Jane Lavington with her gorgeous dancing part-bred Clydesdale, Boston Deluxe.

Then on to Sunday it’s time for the Small Tour finalists to take to the floor for their respective freestyles. Starting at 11.30 with the last to go at 16.52, the day is an excellent chance to see the many talented finalists in action.

With classes over four days the show offers top class dressage and free entry to spectators as well as the welcoming facilities at Keysoe, including the wonderful Keysoe Boutique and café. It’s well worth a break from Christmas shopping to take a look at combinations on the rise for 2019.