Novice winners Katherine Cross & Leonidas 103 (c) Sue Cross
In a weekend of sunny eventing up and down the country, Norton Disney was no different.
Expertly organised, and built and designed cross country courses by Joe Weller, with praise from owners, riders and volunteers echoing around the event site and across numerous social media channels, Norton Disney was yet another successful fixture.
It was a Novice win for Katherine Cross and Leonidas 103, who led from start to finish, maintaining their dressage score of 28.3.
"I am really proud of the way Leo held his own in a tough novice section and the very classy horse he's turning out to be" commented Katherine. "Leading from start to finish, what more could I ask?! I'm really excited for this horse's future and can't wait for the rest of the season with him."
Novice section K was closely fought race between Arthur Duffort and Samantha Molyneux, both of whom produced double clears within the cross country time to finishing on 24.3 and 24.5 respectively, over 3 points clear of the rest of the field.
It was Caroline Powell and Andrew James that were head and shoulders above the rest in the Open Novice, with Caroline and Delaney Star finishing on an incredible 22.8. Andrew finished not far behind on 24.0, with Freestyler, 7 points ahead of Eliza Stoddart in third place.
Big leads weren't just confined to the Novice sections however, with Maddy Moffett and Cooley Well Related finishing 6.2 penalties clear of 2nd place in BE80 section F, on their dressage score of 24.0 - bar far a personal best for the combination in their second season together.
Hannah Marley and Booty Boots, also produced a personal best dressage and finishing score with a 25.5 in BE90 section C to take the win ahead of Teri England and Harlow Carr.
From big wins to the narrowest of margins, Jessica Watts and Shannondale Bressie held on to the win by 0.2 in BE100 G, to finish on their 28.8 dressage, ahead of Amy Bell and Brutas G who added just 2 time penalties to their 27 dressage to play 2nd on 29. It was a similar story in section H with Eliza Stoddart and SJL Convince Me finishing on their 27.5 dressage ahead of Bill Levett and ITZ Chinatown who picked up 0.4 too fast time penalties to finish in 2nd place on 27.7.