HODSON rider Tom McEwen scored a Novice Regional Final victory at the two-day British Eventing competition at Aston-le-Walls in Northamptonshire.

The event leads on to the British Novice Championships at the Festival of British Eventing at Gatcombe Park each August and McEwen led the way on Rehy USA, moving up from second after dressage when early leader Mike Jackson added four cross country time penalties to his score.

McEwen stayed just .4 of a mark ahead of runner-up, Little Cheverell based Olympic team silver medallist Lucinda Fredericks, on Azarah, who went on to win one of two Open Intermediate (OI) sections on The Navigator.

Bishopstone’s former Badminton three-day event winner Rodney Powell was a close second in the other OI section, just .2 of a mark behind winner Sam Griffiths on Zinzan II, and would have scored a good win but for one show jump down in the middle phase.

The jumping phase also proved costly for Powell on his other OI ride Conair, who saw a possible third slip away when one fence fell to leave him 10th overall.

Foxham’s Georgie Spence and Lower Stanton St Quinton’s Kitty King were both among the winners in BE100 sections, for young horses.

Spence, 23, enjoyed a double success, with new partner, Direct Harlequin, and the 14.2hh pony Manhatten Skyline finishing on identical dressage scores of 32.5 to score narrow wins, the latter seeing off Paul Tapner’s ride Inishmar by just under a mark.

King, another four star international, won on five-year-old Ceylor Lan and picked up a third on new ride Anxiom, fifth on five-year-old Mad About U and a seventh on MO Cuiske.

She had returned from the Jardy CIC*** in France where eight-year-old Zidante finished fourth in the horse’s first run at the level.

“Zidante was amazing. She did a lovely dressage test with just a couple of green mistakes and flew round cross country to make the step up to three star level feel easy,’’ said King.

“I started out steadily to give her chance to settle and gain confidence which gave us the 3.6 time faults.”