Equestrianism: Make Haste carries Pavitt to clear victory

Louise Pavitt came out best in a vintage field for the Young Riders Championship of Great Britain at the Horse of the Year Show here yesterday, when she won on Make Haste with the only clear round of the jump-off.

Initially Tim Gredley was also credited with a clear round on Omelli, but he was subsequently given four faults for a technical refusal through having crossed his tracks. That promoted Robert Whitaker, who had a single error when recording the fastest time on Karina, to runner-up with Gredley moving down to third place.

Pavitt has been trained by Ireland's Peter Charles for the last two years. "He's only 20 minutes away, so I go over most days to help with his horses and he helps me," she said.

Fredrik Bergendorff, an ex-event rider from Sweden who is now concentrating on show jumping at his English base near Banbury, was quickly into his stride when winning the Senior Newcomers Championship on six-year-old Baretto. In the process he defeated the fancied Tim Stockdale, on Riley, by 0.89sec.

Bergendorff, originally from Stockholm, was a member of the victorious Swedish three-day event team at the 1993 European Championships. He had spent three years with Mark Todd - "That was the best job you could ever have," he said - and it was through the New Zealander that he was given the ride on his championship mount, Michaelmas Day. Nowadays his ambition is to represent Sweden in a major show jumping championship.

James Reveley looked like a star in the making when he rode the bay mare, Flame Of Tara, to win the National Junior Foxhunter Championship - albeit by a 0.05sec whisker from Amy Parkin, who had followed him into the arena for the jump-off.