Northland rider Julie Flintoff and her beautiful mare Belladonna MH captured their first HOY title, taking out the Level 5 championship. “I can’t quite believe it – I’ve been bridesmaid so many times,” said Julie.
Julie and the eight-year-old mare were second in their first two tests of the week, but were clear winners of the freestyle in the 21-strong field. Interestingly, Julie bought her freestyle music online for $200 and put the floorplan together herself – it was certainly a hit with the judges, scoring 72.38%. Taranaki’s Vanessa Way and her young NRM KH Arion were Reserve Champions in Level 5, after a win and two thirds.
Julie (24) has owned the Matthews Hanoverian-bred ‘Bella’ since she was a newly backed three-year-old and produced her to win the National Young Horse Championship as a six-year-old in 2015. She is by Brentano II out of a Gymnastik Star-Graf Landau mare and Julie says her strength is her trainability and rhythm.
Three years ago, Julie suffered a terrible accident when leading Bella – the mare got a fright and leapt off the ground, kicking Julie in the head, in front of her horrified mum, Kay. Her facial bones were shattered, requiring major surgery, and she also lost an eye, but bravely overcame the incident to be back in the saddle a couple of months later.
Julie is currently studying massage and lives with her parents at their Waimate North farm. She trains with her mum, Kay, and Philipp Oxenius, who were both on hand to help at HOY and clearly delighted with her win.
Meanwhile, Cambridge rider Alex Matheson had a strong start in the Level 6/7 championship, winning the Prix St Georges with the stallion PPSL Lingh II, scoring 68.64%. However, it was a tight contest between Alex and his trainer Vanessa Way, who was second on NRM Andreas on 68.33%. South Islander Franzi Van Bruggen-Smith and Fortunato were third on 66.36%.
