Twelve teams line up, with four going through to zone…… 60 nervous children enter the ring at Oswestry Showground to battle it out for their chance to try for that elusive Prince Philip Cup. Will anyone from Area 5 be at HOYS again this year?
The Flint and Denbigh A team of Suzi Williams, Anya Dreiling, Wednesday Ritter, Nan Jones and Becky Sedcole trained by Gwil Hughes are looking for one of those four coveted places. They go into the ring feeling good; all they need is fourth place and they are off to the Zone competition, with the carrot of HOYS dangling just that little bit closer.
But as they line up for each race and ride their hearts out against strong contenders, such as Berwyn and Dee, Wynnstay and Cheshire Hunt North, who have all been to HOYS before, it soon seems clear that their sought after fourth place is not going to be theirs this year. As they consistently win through to final after final, as they steadily keeping their nerve and show off their well practiced skills to the appreciative fans cheering madly in the grand stand, as their points start racking up, as they climb up the leader board, it soon becomes clear that fourth will definitely not be their place this year.
Because this year, for the first time ever, Flint and Denbigh Senior Mounted Games Team are not satisfied with fourth, or third, or even second. This year they will only be satisfied with first place and first is what they are going for.
The last race is five flag and they are seven points clear. WWW are their nearest rivals and if Flint and Denbigh do badly and WWW do well they could lose it at the last moment. With bated breath the crowd watch tensely – and it all goes wrong! Flint and Denbigh miss getting to the final. WWW can’t win this race, otherwise Flint and Denbigh are in a run off with them for first place. It’s a flat out race now between CHN and WWW – F and D fans pray WWW come second. Suddenly the stands practically shake as the Flint and Denbigh crowd are on their feet, cheering and clapping. It’s Cheshire Hunt North who have come in front to win the last race, leaving the overall champions of the day as our very own Flint and Denbigh!
Yes they did it, the first Flint and Denbigh team to win Area Mounted Games. They rode with maturity and kept their heads to pull through when it mattered and we are proud of them all. Well done Flint and Denbigh A team and to Gwil who sported the biggest smile of the day – keep it up through zone and Iona will have to arrange the biggest coach to HOYs she has ever organised!!
