Riders from the county made their presence felt at last weekend's Royal International Horse Show, held at the All England Jumping Course at Hickstead in Sussex.

Felsted's Rowena Ockendon-Day continued her recent run of success when she finished runner-up with Gramena in the Osborne Refrigeration winter grade C championship, open to horses whose winnings at the time of qualification did not exceed £800.

Held in the International arena, they were one of only six clear rounds from the 20 starters who went through to contest the timed jump off.

Drawn first to go, Rowena, 21, produced a superb piece of riding on the eight year old grey, clearing all the fences with ease to cross the finish line in 42.12 seconds, setting what looked like an unbeatable standard.

However, their time was bettered just two rounds later by just over a second.

Rowena's elder sister Rebecca was equally pleased with Clover Chief's performance in the Queen Elizabeth II Cup, whose only mistake came when lowering the bottom rail of the triple bar.

This placed Rebecca, who was making her debut in the most coveted event for lady riders, in equal seventh along with Kelly-Anne Riches from Tiptree but who is now resident for most of her time in Belgium.

Sara Rust from Hatfield Broad Oak rode Bella Mona to victory in the national winter young riders championship with younger sister Emma, fourth on Master Miniott.

Doddinghurst's John Renwick gained two victories in the Foxhunter competitions on Colin Bates' Grannus Lady and another in the Hickstead Novice Stakes and also headed the Zandershiede 1.30m on Pik Junior.

He also took the £500 first prize in Friday's International class, the Brighton Speed stakes on Brookend Raphaella, thus qualifying them for the Traxdata speed grand prix, in which they finished seventh.

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