After a thrilling four days of  Young Rider (Group D) competition at Sydney Royal, Clemency Hughes and Diamond B Corvina have taken out the Grand Prix today and Clem was also awarded the ribbon for best performed rider in the Young Rider (Group D) competition.

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Round 1 was held on Friday and the fastest time, adjusted for a rail down were Maleah Lang-McMahon and KS Sovereigns Cadel with 69.14 seconds. This was a great result for Lang-McMahon who also competed in the Junior Competition earlier in the day. Second place, with an adjusted time of 70.72 seconds went to Anneliese Wansey and Grandiamo, with the recently crowned Australian Junior Champion combination of Clemency Hughes and Diamond B Corvina coming in third in a time of 72.46 seconds.

Above: Maleah Lang-McMahon and KS Sovereigns Cadel

ROUND 1 RESULTS

PLACE	RIDER	HORSE
1st	Maleah Lang-McMahon	KS Sovereigns Cadel
2nd	Anneliese Wansey	Grandiamo
3rd	Clemency Hughes	Diamond B Corvina
4th	Alexandra Gostelow	Tulara Cristo
5th	Lucy Locke	Quero Quero
6th	Isabella Du Plessis	Monte Carlo MVNZ

In Round 2, held on Saturday, Clemency Hughes and Diamond B Corvina went two places better than their Round 1 third place to take the win by just half a second in a double clear performance. Also double clear were the second placed Lucy Locke and Quero Quero. Third place in the jump off went to Katelyn Staples and KC Spotabug.

Clemency Hughes and Diamond B Corvina

ROUND 2 RESULTS

PLACE	RIDER	HORSE
1st	Clemency Hughes	Diamond B Corvina
2nd	Lucy Locke	Quero Quero
3rd	Katelyn Staples	KC Spotabug
4th	Samantha Sant	Blackall Park Clarence
5th	Georgia Bouzaid	Vitess
6th	Alexandra Gostelow	Tulara Cristo

Sunday saw Round 3 and Anneliese Wansey and Grandiamo break through for the win, after being one of only two combinations to qualify for a jump-off. Second in the Jump off went to Samantha Sant and Blackall Park Clarence who recently placed ninth in the Australian Young Rider Championship. Lucy Locke and Quero Quero finished in third, one spot below their second place in Round 2.

Above: Anneliese Wansey and Grandiamo

ROUND 3 RESULTS

PLACE	RIDER	HORSE
1st	Anneliese Wansey	Grandiamo
2nd	Samantha Sant	Blackall Park Clarence
3rd	Lucy Locke	Quero Quero
4th	Clemency Hughes	Diamond B Corvina
5th	Tori Cureton	Equus Archer
6th	Maleah Lang-McMahon	KS Sovereigns Cadel

Going into today’s final, with three different winners in each of the three previous rounds, the competition was as open as could be. There were only 12 Young Rider combinations in the competition, which produced just two clear rounds during round 1. With faults carrying forward to round 2, these two were obviously in the best position as 11 combinations came out for the second round. A fantastic performance was put in by Bella Du Plessis and Monte Carlo MVNZ, to again go clear and take the lead in the Grand Prix, however, their time of 71.55 seconds was no match for the eventual winner. The winners of round 2, and current Australian Junior Champions Clemency Hughes and Diamond B Corvina also went double clear but in a scorching 61.38 seconds, to not only knock Du Plessis out of the lead, but to etch their place in the history books. Hughes is no stranger to success on the big stage that Sydney Royal provides as it was four years ago that Hughes rode Nicolette to victory in the Junior Grand Prix at Sydney Royal. Third place in the Grand Prix went to the very consistent combination of Anneliese Wansey and Grandiamo, who took a place on the podium in every one of the four classes they competed in.

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YOUNG RIDER GRAND PRIX RESULTS

PLACE	RIDER	HORSE
1st	Clemency Hughes	Diamond B Corvina
2nd	Isabella Du Plessis	Monte Carlo MVNZ
3rd	Anneliese Wansey	Grandiamo
4th	Maleah Lang-McMahon	KS Sovereigns Cadel
5th	Tori Cureton	Equus Archer
6th	Alexandra Gostelow	Tulara Cristo