Badminton Horse Trials - Champions crowned in Voltaire Design Grassroots Championship

Katherine Illingworth had the thrill of a lifetime when winning the Voltaire Design Grassroots Championship (BE100) held at Badminton on Philip Adkins’ Ballinoecastle Q, a seven-year-old by Obos Quality.

Katherine, 27, who acts as head girl for Philip’s Cadenza Eventing yard in Northamptonshire, added nothing to her dressage score of 29.5 to finish 1.5 penalties ahead of Hannah Taylor, who has a threefold career as an engineering student, part-time rider and pet portraitist, riding her own Legaland Best One. Katie Stephens-Grandy, a farmer and photographer from North Yorkshire, was third on Trendy Magic Touch.

This is a big day for amateur riders who unanimously declared their day on the hallowed turf of the Badminton park to be ‘brilliant’. ‘The atmosphere is fantastic, everyone helps you,’ said Katherine, who was quick to pay tribute to her employer: ‘I am very lucky to compete Philip’s horses and I can’t thank him enough. He has put a lot of work and money into my riding.’

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