Team Of Cousins Win On Home Turf At Hickstead

A team of four cousins from the Cottesmore team took home the Junior title at the Hurst National Schools Jumping Championships at Hickstead.

The winning team comprised of Mia Breen and Drewmain Miera, Douglas Bunn and Thorn 55, and brothers Wolfie Breen (Avalon Du Carpont) and Dougie Breen (One Saharah). Douglas Bunn is the son of Hickstead Director John Bunn and his wife Lucy, Mia is the daughter of international showjumpers Trevor and Caroline Breen, and Wolfie and Dougie are the sons of Shane and Chloe Breen, who run Breen Equestrian at Hickstead Place.

All four riders produced double clears to secure victory over runners-up Hurstpierpoint College Red, who finished on four faults. Mia Breen also finished second individually on Drewmain Miera, a nine-year-old mare that she’s only been riding for a couple of months. “It was good to win here again, as we last won in 2022 when I was on the team,” said Mia.

Taking the individual title was Elsie Drea and Fallowfen Socrates, representing Barrow CEVC Primary School. They finished 0.28sec ahead of Mia to take the title, with Wolfie Breen taking third place.

Elsie gave full credit to her pony, describing him as: “Amazing, he’s the best.” The pair recently won the Bronze League 138cm & Under Championship Final at the British Showjumping National Championships.

The Breen family had further cause for celebration when Darcy Breen – Wolfie and Dougie’s elder sister – took the Senior Individual title for Seaford College.

Riding Just Jack, Darcy produced a quick jump-off time of 29.36sec to go more than 2sec faster than second-placed Lamorna May and Theodora, from Exeter.

“I mainly wanted him to jump round nicely because I am jumping him here at the All England September Tour, so I didn't want to do anything too crazy,” said Darcy, a team gold and individual bronze medallist at last year’s Pony European Championships. “But then he's naturally really fast, so I can trust him to go quite quick anyway. It feels really good to win here today because I don't think Seaford have won this class before.”

In the team competition, it was Mayfield Red who took the win with a team total of zero faults. Their team strategy of ‘go fast, have fun!’ paid off as they produced the only clean sheet to take the honours ahead of the Bloxham Black team.

The team comprised 17-year-old Hope Kramer (Chiquitita), 13-year-old Iona Jobber (Bayhill Clover), 16-year-old Issie Pincus (Starburst) and 13-year-old Olivia Brookes (Nighthawk).

“My mare hadn’t jumped on grass before, so I was a bit nervous going in. But everybody just said ‘have fun’, and that's what we did!” said Hope."

"The first class of the day was the Hickstead Elite 1.10m NSEA Individual Championship, which went to Genevieve Bradbury from Queen Mary's School, riding Ballygill Plier. It was an extremely tight finish, with Genevieve crossing the tape in a time of 34.47sec, and runners-up Jasmine Willis and Aurora from Herefordshire Sixth Form finishing just 0.02 seconds in arrears."

“I've had him for two years now, and in the time we've had together, I feel like we've come on so far,” said Genevieve. “He's kind of got me to where I'm today, and I'm very lucky to have him. It's definitely like a really good way to end the season.”

Photo Credit: Julian Portch Photography