Willa has hit the ground running for the 2021 eventing season after her recovery from a serious injury to her pelvis in 2020.
80% of her 80 plus runners have finished in the Top 20 across the levels from BE100 to 4*.
The highlight so far was a double at the Alnwick Ford International at the end of June taking the 3* with Cock a Doodle Doo and the 2* with Light the Fuse.
Willa’s and Anne Marshall’s Cock A Doodle Doo is a nine-year-old by Clarimo whom she bought in Germany as a three-year-old. She was lying second after dressage on a score of 26.4 and overtook the leader Alex Hua Tian on the strength of a faster time cross-country.
Willa rode Katie and Jamie Davenport’s homebred mare Light The Fuse to victory in the CCI2*-S. Fourth after dressage with a mark of 29.4, the pair added nothing to that score to vault up the leaderboard.
Willa said: “I had a great weekend – it was my first time at Alnwick Ford, but I’ll definitely be back! Cock A Doodle Doo was super - he’s very exciting. It was a good cross-country course for him; there were lots of different questions and the going was great. He had a few spooky moments in the dressage, but I was pleased with him and his jumping phases were spot-on.”
This was a first international victory for eight-year-old Light The Fuse at just her second attempt at the level.
Owner Jamie Davenport said: “For someone called Light The Fuse, she’s been a slow burner - she was quite a slow starter, but she’s really come into her own in the past year. Willa is doing an amazing job with her and we’re so thrilled.”
https://www.britisheventing.com/about/people-and-horses/find-people/Willa-Newton/results
Photo courtesy of: Lottie Elizabeth Photography
