A PUPIL from Terrington Hall school has returned from a Devon pony-racing competition with a winner’s trophy.

Alice Cooke, 11, along with her mum, dad, and sister Rosie, travelled down to Bratton Down in Devon for the Exmoor point-to-point and national pony racing finals last weekend.

Alice and her pony “Over to Kerry” had qualified for these finals by winning pony races at Guilsborough and Dingley in the Midlands earlier in the season.

At Bratton Down on Sunday, June 3, with the going good-to-firm, the pair won the 148cm Novice Riders’ Final, sponsored by Treehouse Sporting Colours, over 6.5 furlongs with a well timed run, making it three wins from three rides.

Alice lives in Whenby and is both a pupil at Terrington Hall School and a member of the Middleton Pony Club.

She has been riding Kerry, a 148cm thoroughbred mare, for six months.

Alice’s mum Annie Cooke said: “Kerry has kindly been loaned to us by her owner Anthea Morshead.

“Alice fits in training Kerry at Mark Walford’s gallops between her school commitments.

“She has been determined to pony race from an early age - she is a granddaughter of Malton trainer Bill Elsey, so it’s in the genes.”

The win at Bratton Down was made all the more special as two weeks before the contest, Kerry sustained a nasty wound to a leg.

It was touch and go if she would make it to the final.

However, Annie added: “Thanks to the fantastic team at Rainbow Equine Hospital she was back to full soundness in no time.”

The day also saw a range of other point-to-point and pony racing events.