2008 NEWS

Portia qualifies for HOYS Grade C Final on Urgent

Portia will be competing at HOYS 2008 after a sensational performance on Urgent in the Castle Ashby HOYS Grade C qualifier on Sunday 6th July. This talented mare has shown huge promise this summer and with Portia riding at her very best looked a class apart by winning the Grand C contest. Portia and father Tim have alot of faith in this chestnut mare and now hope to use this as a springboard for the rest of the summer. There is little doubt that if Urgent continues to improve thoughout the rest of the summer she should stand an excellent chance at the prestigious Horse of the Year show later this year.

Portia in Great Form at Addington

Portia was again in excellent form at the summer Addington Classic this last weekend with several very good placings.

Kartonne De L'Abbaye has looked in good shape recently and continued her fine form with a 2nd place in the 1.25m Open. Portia is convinced she is close to winning a good speed class and is one to watch for the rest of the summer season. With the young horses now getting the show experience Portia had planned, they are all starting to get the hang of things and produce very promoising performances. Esprit De Noblesse was very impressive in coming third in the 1.10m Open on the first day of the show and although having one down in the 1.15m Open this talented newcomer again showed much promise. Hermano Marin jumped two of Portia's other newcomers Wiltro and Atlanta and both were just as impressive with Wiltro winning the newcomers events and Atlanta coming third. All Portia youngsters will be back at Addington in August for the summer age class show.

Portia brought her very talented mare Urgent to Addington to jump in the second round of the Foxhunters. After jumping a very impressive clear in the first round, Urgent slightly lost concentration in the second round and finished with two poles down. Far from being disappointed, Portia was still very pleased with Urgent and is sure she will bounce back very quickly.

Macgarveys Choice, who has been a stallwart recently, again showed that he is very competitive in 1.40m classes and finished an excellent second just behind Sophie Tobin - Orion in the National 1.40m contest.

East of England show update

Portia continued her fine form at the East of England show at the Peterborough showground. Portia used her very fast Kartonne De L'Abbaye in the first speed class of the show and was very close to winning having to settle for 2nd place. This very fast mare is hard to beat when she leaves the poles and looked in very good shape at this show. Portia hopes to be in the winners enclosure very soon with this talented and fast mare.

Margarveys Choice maintained his excellent form of late and was again impressive in the 1.40m big class on day two of the show finishing a fine fifth. This progressive individual is now starting to look very comfortable at this height and is a credit to Portia, who has been responsible for the huge improvement made by this horse over the last year.

Macgarveys Choice continues on upgrade

Portia took her front horses to the Unex Towerlands summer show, featuring the second round of the Foxhunters contest. Although having a fence down in the second round, Portia was delighted with Urgent who continues to show this talented mare is a very exciting prospect for the future. Alison Claxton owned Macgarveys Choice again gave Portia her highlights from the show. After an excellent 3rd in the 1.30m Open contest, Portia decided to jump this Macgarveys Choice in his first Grand PRIX. After a very impressive and convincing first round, Portia and Macgarveys Choice had a couple of polls in the jump off but finished an excellent ninth place. Portia has been delighted with the progress Macgarveys Choice has made all year and has been very careful to gradually step up this talented gelding. To complete a nice show, Portia and Macgarveys Choice again jumped the big class on the last day (1.40m Open) and finished a very good fifth place.

Portia welcomes two new horses

Portia has welcomed two new horses to the team adding to her already strong string of young horses. Wiltro, a 5yr old bay gelding (by Indoctro), will be aimed at newcomers contests and is a very nice prospect. Also added to the team is Zafira, a 4yr old chestnut mare, who is jointly owned by Alison Claxton and Portia. This nice mare will be ready to go to a show very soon and will be mainly aimed at age classes this year.

Addington Spring Classic

With Portia performing with great credit at the British Open PCA final on Macgarveys Choice, Portia took her horses to the Addington Manor spring classic in the last week of April. Portia was pleased to get the horses outside and KARTONNE DE L'ABBAYE wasted little time coming second in both 1.25m Open classes. Despite not jumping as Portia would have like in Birmingham, KARTONNE DE L'ABBAYE is always very competitive in these classes and Portia feels this mare needed to get outside to start showing her best.

Portia also jumped her very exciting new horse Urgent II in the 7 year old Championship. This was a very hot class with some of the very best and most experienced 7yr olds in the country. Despite Urgent being one of most inexperienced in the field, this lovely chestnut mare showed all her quality to finish an excellent 7th place. "She jumped fabulous" said Portia "She has so much scope I'm really pleased with her progress. We'll aim her for all the 7yr Old age classes and see how she progresses, we think she could develop into a very nice horse, and are very excited about the future" added Portia.

Portia finished the show with a very solid performance on Grand Cherie finishing an excellent 7th place in the High Offley Stud National 1.30m Open Championship qualifier.

Unex Towerlands - Premier Show

Portia continued her excellent recent form at the Unex Towerlands Senior Premier show. Portia had targeted this show to get Alison Claxton's Macgarveys Choice and Kartonne De L'Abbaye ready for their PCA Final at the British Open meeting in early April.

Portia decided to jump Kartonne De L'Abbaye in two classes at the show (1.30m Open & 1.35m Open) and this improving mare showed she is in fine form despite having the one pole in each class, Portia was more than happy with her performance "This should put her right, I thought she jumped very well and let's hope she continues in this form for Birmingham". However, Portia saved some very eye catching performances with Macgarveys Choice who went double clear to finish in sixth place in the 1.40m Open (only six double clears) and also went clear in the Young Riders contest to the delight of owner Alison Claxton. "Absolutely delighted for Alison" said Portia "Every time we have stepped him up he keeps responding, we're very pleased with him, he was only jumping 1.20m this time last year and he has continued to improve, lets hope the improvement continues" added Portia.

Portia again jumped her new chestnut mare Urgent and was particularly impressive going double clear to finish placed in the 1.35m Open. Both father Tim and Portia are very excited about their new charge and this mare certainly looks to have a very bright future.

Arena UK - Senior Premier Show

Portia took her string to the Arena UK Senior Premier Show and again produced some very good performances. Portia had an excellent first day with an good 2nd place on the consistent KARTONNE DE L'ABBAYE in the 1.30m Open and followed that with a fine 2nd on GRAND CHERIE in the BLUE CHIP DYNAMIC B & C QUALIFIER. In the same class Portia was also forth on her very promising new horse Urgent II. This Heartbreaker mare has already shown that she could well be the horse to take over from the recently departed Oscar as Portia's lead horse.

Portia had some very good placing's in the rest of the show with noteworthy performances from Alison Claxton's improving MACGARVEYS CHOICE who had only one pole in the big 1.40m Open class on the Saturday and then on Sunday rolled the top bar of the last fence to finish on 4 faults.

Portia next event will be the Towerlands Senior Premier Show 14th-16th March.

Portia makes solid start to 2008

Portia has had a fine start to 2008 by qualifying both Macgarveys Choice and Kartonne De L'Abbaye for the PCA final at the British Open meeting in April. Both horses were in excellent form at the end of 2007 and Portia is really pleased both horses have continued progressing into 2008.

PorTia in winning form at Addington

Portia started her Christmas program in impressive fashion with an excellent win and two placing's at the Addington Christmas show. Portia's impressive win came in the Country Equestrian 1.30m Open on her very speedy mare Kartonne de L'Abbaye (see video here......) Chasing the time from the very start Portia's kept her charge balanced all the way round this demanding Bob Ellis designed track and was a very deserved winner. This nice mare was also placed earlier in the week and has been in excellent form recently.

Portia was equally pleased with the performance of her new horse, the Alison Claxton owned Macgarveys Choice, who had jumped very well throughout the show and finished with a well deserved third place in the Accumulator contest. This is a horse that has continued to improve during 2007 and will be one to keep a close eye on during 2008.