WILTSHIRE eventer Lizzie Brown is celebrating her first international victory after she won the Military Boekelo CCIO3* in the Netherlands last weekend.

The 25-year-old New Zealand international, who is based at Milton Stud in Milton Lilbourne, guided Henton Attorney General to victory with 39.8 penalties, to claim the biggest win of her career so far.

“It was amazing. It’s my first international win and that’s obviously pretty cool,” said Brown, who took the lead during the cross-country section from Germany’s Peter Thomsen and Horseware’s Barney (44.2), who finished second.

“I didn’t really expect to do so well. I would have been pleased with finishing in the top ten so I was absolutely stoked about it and winning a competition like that probably isn’t going to happen too often so I want to enjoy it.

“It was really wet and the ground was already quite chopped up when it came to our showjumping round but he (Henton Attorney General) was brilliant and was great in the cross country too.

“I think that if it had been bright and sunny, the other riders wouldn’t have had so many problems, but it’s a great end to a really good season for me.”

Boekelo served as the final round of the FEI Nations Cup and with New Zealand only being represented at three of seven events, Brown’s country could only manage a sixth-placed finish overall.

But Wiltshire riders Kitty King and Laura Collett had reason to celebrate after they helped Great Britain pip last year’s champions Germany to the top of the standings.

Lower Stanton St Quintin’s King, 30, was fifth at Boekelo on Persimmon (48.0).

“He hadn’t really had many preparation runs because I broke my wrist just after Barbury in the summer but he gave me an absolutely fantastic test, especially for such a young horse at that level,” said King.

“He was superb through all of the jumping phases and it was a shame that he had a fence down because he didn’t deserve it.

“I missed a few of the other rounds that I’d wanted to be involved in because of my wrist but it was really nice to be a part of that winning Great Britain team.”

Team manager Philip Surl said: “Laura and this promising mare put in a great effort with a strong test and then went very well across country, although they accrued a few time penalties.

“They also unfortunately rolled a pole on Sunday but again the ground conditions had been getting worse as the day went on and the weather dried out causing the ground to become heavier.

“This horse has now put in two consistent CICO team performances to really consolidate her position at the end of the season.’’ He said: “As ever, Kitty’s horses are lovely on the flat and they started the competition well. They then went clear across country just picking up a few time faults.

“He is a young horse that has performed well in the build-up to this level; this was a good box to tick at CCI3* level.”

Brown, King and Membury’s Collett are all in Le Lion d’Angers, France, this week to bring the curtain down on their seasons at the FEI World Breeding Championships for Young Horses.

  • MARLBOROUGH-BASED Frenchman Arthur Pottier won the CCI2* event at the Weston Park trials in Shropshire at the weekend.

Riding Quaolin de la Serre, Pottier finished on his dressage score of 49.2, ahead of Chepstow’s Sara Squires and Cheshire’s Hannah Bate on Watson III.

In the Charles Owen Pony 3DE (CCNP*), Wiltshire’s Chelsea Pearce, 14, was second on Catherston Nutsafe behind 16-year-old Shannon Nelson of Kildare.

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