Two Jersey drivers make Horse of Year Show

Friday 2nd July 2004, 12:00AM BST.

CARRIAGE drivers Nicola Blandin and Rachelle Bownes have qualified for the Horse of the Year Show – at separate qualifying competitions and within six days of each other,

Both have competed at the prestigious HOYS before, Bownes last year for the first time, where she and her Welsh A pony Ovington Hermes finished fourth, while this will be Blandin’s sixth foray at the NEC in Birmingham.

Bownes gained her ticket at one of only 16 qualifying events in the year, at the 2004 British Driving Society’s Annual Show at Windsor, on 20 June where, driving Hermes, she won the class for registered Welsh section A ponies and the Overall Welsh Pony Championship – a title that she retains for the second consecutive year and which was awarded ahead of two other highly successful ponies.

The judge said: ‘Hermes is a fine example of a true Welsh section A and superbly turned out – he really catches your eye.’

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