THE 2018 season has been an extremely successful one for Cambewarra’s Jamie Priestley, with all of the accomplishments directly linked to the amount of hard work she puts into her craft.
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Priestley, 20, started the year on a positive note by winning the Sydney Royal Young Rider Grand Prix.
This acted as a springboard for her, seeing her win both the four and six-year-old age classes at the Waratah Show, as well as the Mirrabooka Cup Speed championships and Mini Prix at the spring championships.
The former Nowra Anglican School student was also crowned NSW Young Rider Country champion, Boneo Cup Stal Tops young rider and Willinga Park Most Successful Young Rider – while also being part of the team’s that won the Aquis Champions Tour (Queensland) and Australian Championships.
“Of all my amazing achievements, the one that stands out the most is winning the third leg of the Stal Tops young rider series,” Priestley said.
“When the series was first announced, I really wanted to win one of the four classes, which was always going to be hard to do.
“It is a very important series because Edwina Tops-Alexander, an extremely successful Australian Showjumping rider who is based overseas, put on the series for young riders in Australia.”
As such, Priestley achieved most of her goals, including a top three finish at Stal Tops, being in the NSW team for the Aussie Titles and finishing in the top 10 with all four of her horses in the Triple Crown Series – including her two youngest Courage and Pearl.
“It has been a great year and I have been consistently up in the top end but narrowly missed out on a few wins, which I had my eye on,” she said.
"But that only pushes myself harder to achieve them in the coming year.”
Priestley’s year isn’t quite done yet though, she is heading south to compete at the annual Bega Showjumping Cup, an event she won in 2017, just after Christmas.
“Bega is going to be a big one with five horses competing,” she said.
“After that, I will be getting into the younger horses and getting ready some local shows, and also preparing for some of our bigger shows like Sydney Royal and Aquis Champions Tour.”
As you would expect, 2019 is shaping up to be even bigger for Priestley and her horses.
“Next year will be massive, not only for my normal four horses but my younger three on the team, who’ll be learning about the competition life,” she said.
“I am looking forward to bringing them on and I’m really excited to see what the future holds for them.
“I also have set sights on my first World Cup start – something I will really be working towards on Courage.”
Courtney Ward
Sports Journalist for South Coast Register and Milton-Ulladulla Times, who loves all things sport and travel. All views are my own.
Sports Journalist for South Coast Register and Milton-Ulladulla Times, who loves all things sport and travel. All views are my own.
