Hickstead, England – June 20, 2019 – American rider Julie Welles (USA) had her first ever Hickstead win yesterday, claiming the honours in the Bunn Leisure Derby Tankard CSI 4*.

Riding the 10-year-old Italian Sport Horse mare Ambra (Quintender x Grandeur), Julie came out on top of a seven-strong jump-off. Crossing the finish in a time of 46.76 seconds , she was more than 1.6 seconds faster than her nearest rival, Britain’s William Fletcher (GBR) and Persimmon (Salute R P x Indorado). Phillip Miller (GBR) took third place with Noble Warrior (Warrior x Casantos), with Ellen Whitaker (GBR) in fourth with Jack Van’t Kattenheye.

Julie is based with Olympic riders Laura Kraut and Nick Skelton, and like them splits her time between Florida and Warwickshire.

“We acquired the mare two months ago, so we haven’t had her very long. She’s a really competitive horse, as long as I ride her the right way, and she was great in there. She’s a bit of a hot mare, and a bit Thoroughbred-like – if I think ‘fast’, then she goes. Today in the jump-off was probably the smoothest, fastest round we’ve had together.”

For full results, please click here.

Source: Press release from