Little Murka rider Scarlett Charles looks set to become one of Britain’s top pony riders and recently flew the flag for Team Murka by qualifying for the Royal International Horse Show 2012 at Hickstead.

Riding Murka’s Mathew’s Girl, Scarlett, who competed at the London International Horse Show in December, Scarlett secured her place with a calculated performance.

A place in final, which will be held in July, is one of the most sought after goals in pony show jumping.

Harry, a student at Churcher’s College, was one of 13 clears to make it through to a third and final round in the grand prix and went into the lead with Murka’s Flinor Songbird, who is known as Bambi at home. After that, he had to make sure he gained another clear in a fast time with Murka’s Headmore Little Lightning to ensure he stayed at the top.

“I did a turn on Lightning I didn’t try on Bambi,” he said. “It involved jumping at an angle over a fence half-way round the course and it worked.”

Some of Harry’s rivals attempted to do the same in order to beat him, but none could jump it without toppling the poles it was constructed from. The number of wins Harry has gained over the past 12 months now makes him one of the highest rated pony riders in the country.

Success for Scarlett
Scarlett had a different goal to achieve, qualification for the 128cm championship at Olympia, where the world’s top senior riders, including her father, Peter, will also be competing. She needed to jump three clear rounds in order to qualifier and this was her first attempt, and also the last chance for any pony riders, to do so.

“I did a few tight turns to make sure I was high enough up the order to qualify, but needed to make sure I stayed clear,” said Scarlett, 11, a pupil at Alton Convent. “I competed in a pair class with Dad at Olympia last year, but am very excited about competing in the 128cm championship this time.”

Harry is the current holder of the Olympia title, which he won last year with Scarlett’s 2011 ride Murka’s Mathew’s Girl. He will be competing Murka’s Headmore Little Lightning this year.

“Lightning is the least experienced of my ponies, so not the one I would have expected to win on,” said Harry, a year one pupil at Churcher’s College. “But she was able to gallop round to one fence [a double combination] and that suits her.”

Of the 23 starters in the class, just seven pony-rider combinations completed the first round course without error to go forward to the jump-off over a shortened course. Harry got three ponies to this stage and was first to go again with Murka’s Flinor Songbird.

“I was able to use this round to set the pace and figure out how tight I could make a turn into one early fence,” said Harry. “It came down, but I knew what I had to do with the other two.”

Harry returned to the ring with Murka’s Mathew’s Girl – with whom he won the prestigious London Olympia International Horse Show 128cm title in December 2010 – and produced the first clear jump-off round, putting the pressure on those remaining. His leading time was soon beaten by Joshua Bridge (Grianagh Harley). However, Harry had one more chance with Murka’s Headmore Little Lightning.

Following the instructions of his international show jumping father Peter Charles, Team Murka’s principal rider, he came home cleanly and knocked over one second of Joshua’s target. And when the last rider stopped on course, the class was his.

“It’s an amazing feeling to know I have won this,” said Harry. “It’s been a great day for me and the team that help behind the scenes.”

Harry will now concentrate on building up a string of 148cm ponies, with which he will compete over his final four years in pony classes.

A week after winning the Friends of the Meadows 1.45m at the Spruce Meadows Champions Welcome meeting, Murka’s Nevada jumped clear in both rounds of the Nations Cup, collecting just a single time fault each time. The first round clear enabled the British team to return for the second round, while the following clear secured fourth place overall for the Brits.

“I was last to go and Di Lampard [the British chef d'equipe in Calgary] to me to go for the clear and not worry about the time so much,” said Peter. “A fence down meant we would have not made the second round and finished last in the competition.”

Murka’s Nevada easily mastered the course and his repeat performance in round two bumped the British team up the final order.

Murka’s Vindicat is certainly the talk of the international circuit, especially after his phenomenal performance in the CN Grand Prix, the biggest in the world. He jumped for one time fault in round one, to make it through to the jump-off.

“He’s ability is amazing, especially when you consider this was only his third grand prix,” said Peter. “He’s done a three-star and one other five-star grand prix before this and been placed every time.”

Unfortunately, a fall in the arena before Peter and “Squirt” went in for the jump-off meant they were held in the tunnel to go in for quite some time.

“I asked to go and give him another jump in the warm up because we’d been there so long, but they kept expecting the rider to get up,” said Peter. “So we went into the ring cold. We had the first fence down, but I can not blame my horse in any way for that. He’d been stood waiting for a long time.”

Peter and Murka’s Vindicat finished sixth overall.

“A pretty good performance considering it was won by Hickstead and Presley Boy was in there as well,” said Peter.

He claimed a win in the Friend of the Meadows 1.45m class with Olga White’s Murka’s Nevada on Sunday, 4 September 2011, beating four rivals in the jump-off.

“‘Nev’ is never slow, and we just simply went fast from start to finish,” said Peter.

Later in the day, Peter secured fourth in the show’s 1.50m World Cup qualifier with the exceptionally promising Murka’s Vindicat.

“It was his first World Cup qualifier and he jumped double clear, so I am really happy with him,” said Peter. “A lot of people are talking about him. He’s already a World Class horse.”

Peter has already secured a place in the Spruce Meadows Masters’ Grand Prix with Murka’s Vindicat after finishing third in the qualifier.

Corrada gave birth at 10.30am at New Priory Stud, Chippenham, Wiltshire, on 3 August 2011. The colt, who is yet to be named, is her second offspring by natural birth. Her first was another colt Nations News (by Last News) who was born on Hickstead Nations Cup day last year (30 July 2010). She has had five previous foals via embryo transfer.

The grey mare won the Hickstead Derby in 2001, 2002 and 2003 with Peter Charles as well as being part of the European gold medal winning Irish team in Arnhem, The Netherlands, in 2001.

Murka’s Pall Mall, a British Nations Cup horse, won the King George V Gold Cup with Peter — who returned to his original British nationality in 2007 — in 2009 by jumping the sole double clear of the competition. The son of Galoubet A was retired in the spring of 2010 and stands at Pembers Hill Stud in Hampshire.

“Together with Murka’s Nevada V and Murka’s Pom D’Ami, I now have a trio of horses capable of winning a medal next year,” said Peter, who also topped a second major class at Hickstead with Murka’s Nevada V. “I am not the sort of person who would go to an Olympic Games if I didn’t have a chance, but these horses are more than able to be successful at that level.”

In the one-round 1.50m class in Sweden, Peter was up against 56 of the world’s top riders. To win it, he pulled of a manoeuvre none of his rivals could match.

“There was a turn going into a double combination fence which none of the other riders thought was possible to pull off,” said Peter. “But when I landed over the fence before it, I could see the turn was there. I asked Murka’s Vindicat to do it and he jumped it beautifully.”

Murka’s Vindicat, who is affectionately known as “Squirt” at home, has stepped up to top-level competition this year.

“He’s taken to it very easily,” said Peter. “Nothing seems to faze him.”

Peter belives Murka’s Vindicat has a big future ahead of him, and after the way he performed when winning the Derby Trial, he has every reason too.

“He’s really coming on and will make a top Grand Prix horse,” said Peter. “He’s only nine, so I didn’t jump him in the Derby on Sunday, but I think he’ll be a future winner of that class, too.”

Just five made the jump-off of the day’s biggest class and Peter was third in on the son of Guidam, chasing a target set by the reigning Derby winning combination, Guy Williams and Softtrack Skip Two Ramiro.

Watching
“I watched Guy go, so I knew where I had to be on the course,” said Peter, who pipped Guy by 0.18 seconds. “But it was really about jumping a clear in there rather than going overly quick. It was a big course.”

Murka’s Vindicat, who is owned by Team Murka founder Olga White, was originally bought through a sale at Addington Manor EC in Buckinghamshire.

Second win
Peter became the only double international class winner at this year’s Hickstead Derby meeting by taking the Falcon Equine Feeds Derby Trophy on Murka’s Nevada (25 June 2011).

Making an impossibly tight turn back to a vertical on Olga White’s 10-year-old stallion son of Rosire, enabled him to gain the advantage over Trevor Breen (Andino Z), the leader at the time. Peter finished three seconds faster than the Irishman and his target couldn’t be matched despite a strong challenge from William Funnell (Billy Angelo), who finished eventual second, towards the end of the jump-off.

Looking to 2012
“Murka’s Nevada is already looking a serious horse,” said Peter. “He jumped his first Nations Cups in La Baule and Rome this year and absolutely murdered the courses.

“I truly believe he could win a medal at next year’s Olympics. Together with Murka’s Pom d’Ami and Murka’s Vindicat, I’ve got three Olympic horses.”

Best to come
Despite his fast round, Peter was insistent that Murka’s Nevada still has a lot more to offer.

“I no where near had my foot to the metal with him today,” said Peter. “I was just cruising round.”

Both Murka’s Nevada and Vindicat will join Peter for the next Top Level FEI Nations Cup in Falsterbo, Sweden, in two weeks’ time.

Principal rider for Team Murka Peter Charles was a member of the first British Top League Nations Cup team of the year for the competition hosted in La Baule, France (13 May 2011). It was planned that he would jump Olga White’s Murka’s Pom D’Ami, with whom he had been the lynchpin of the British teams in 2010. However, “Pommie” was suffering from a sore foot and Peter’s other top horse Murka’s Rubert R had a slight knock to the leg while travelling to the show.

“The team manager [Rob Hoekstra] asked me if Murka’s Nevada was ready to jump at this level,” said Peter. “Although it was perhaps a little earlier than I would have liked, I had every faith in our partnership. I knew he’d be more than capable.”

Peter and Murka’s Nevada, a stallion also owned by Olga White, had one fence and one time fault in each of the two rounds. This was a more than respectable performance for a horse debuting at such a high level, particularly considering some of the world’s top horses, including that of the reigning World Champion, fared far worse.

Peter’s marks contributed to the team’s overall score, with Britain finishing fourth just five points behind winners Ireland. As a result, Peter has been selected to ride Murka’s Nevada on the Top League Nations Cup team in Rome next week.

La Baule also hosted Handisport competitions, which includes show jumping classes for the blind. The blind riders’ horses are led over a course of show jumps by sighted riders on their horses, and Peter and Murka’s Nevada acted as one of these leaders.

Pictures of this class, the Nations Cup and other classes in La Baule can bee seen here.

Back at home, Harry secured his second visit to the Horse of the Year Show by finishing runner up in South View Equestrian Centres 128cm pony qualifier with Murka’s Flinor Songbird.

Harry, the reigning London International Horse Show Olympia 128cm champion with Murka’s Mathew’s Girl, made the third and final round of the competition along with 11 rivals.

“I tried to ride tight lines and keep moving, but it was important that I stayed clear,” said Harry. “There were only two places for the final in this qualifier, so I had to make sure I didn’t make mistakes.”

Harry went into the lead, but was beaten on time by Connie Wood Aldon riding Dykebeck Wild Hazelnut. However, his result was good enough to gain a place for the championship in Birmingham this October.

“I’ll be more confident this time,” said Harry. “I’ve ridden and won in big indoor arenas since last year, so have a lot more experience now.”