Win at major competition for Manx Pony Club

A team representing the Isle of Man Branch of the Pony Club won the area finals of the Prince Philip Cup Games at Stodday, near Lancaster, on Saturday.

They'll now go on to compete in the zone finals, which will take place at Newark Showground on the weekend of July fourth and fifth.

The team consisting of Tabbie Wright, Hannah Scarlett, Phoebe Cross, Ben Bamber, Katy Robinson and Breeshey Evans, complete with their ponies, left the Island on Wednesday morning along with trainers Chris Chatel and Jane Cross.

There were eleven teams competing in the competition from branches all over the north west of England.

In the first of eight races it looked like it was all going to go horribly wrong for the Manx team as Ben had a nasty fall and hurt his arm.

Unfortunately the team failed to qualify for the final of this race, however they all rose to the occasion - Ben bravely continuing in spite of his injury - and went on to win several of the others.

It meant they only had to complete the last race to be assured of a place in the next round of the competition, the zone finals, which they duly did.

There are ten games in that competition, many of which are new to the team and much more complicated, so they will be practicing very hard to gain the new skills required.

The winners of the zone finals go on to compete at the championships which are held at the Horse of the Year show in October.