SEVERAL Worcestershire riders were in action at the 2008 Blue Chip National Show Jumping Championships, held for the first time this year at Hartpury College, near Gloucester.

The new £4million arena at Hartpury proved the ideal venue for the show, which riders had qualified for from across Britain over the winter months and show jumping fans were treated to five action-packed days of sport.

Welland-based engineer Bryan Smith, who is originally from Ireland, took home the Elevator Discovery Championship title on the six-year-old 17h chestnut Little Frano.

The pair had qualified for the final at Hartpury earlier in the year and joined more than 100 other entrants in a strongly-fought championship.

Smith was then drawn towards the end of a 26-horse jump-off and completed a really quick round to push young Cornish rider Sammie Jo Coffin into second.

"You never quite know how Bryan will tackle a course - he makes his mind up as he goes in," said his wife Sophie Hooper-Smith.

"He usually rides to win and did so this time. He also finished fifth in the Equenox Novice Championship the day before and found the new venue very good, with excellent facilities - it was a bonus that it was local to us."

Husband and wife share the ride on the laid-back Little Frano, who they brought over from Ireland.

"Bryan show-jumps him at the weekends when he's not working and I show him in working hunter classes," said Harper-Smith, who runs a riding school and livery yard at Welland.

She added: "I recently came fifth with him at his first showing competition of the year, the West Midlands Show at the Three Counties, and he'll go to Leicester next."

Weatheroak-based 21-year-old Sam Oliver claimed the Devoucoux Star Champion-ship with the Dutch-bred horse Katinka.

Riders qualify to make the Star competition at Hartpury and then have to go through another two rounds to make the final itself.

Oliver headed a qualifier on the bay mare who went on to pull off a gallop to the last fence in the championship jump-off to score a memorable victory.

Bradley Green-based Caroline Webley was fourth in a jump-off for the Blue Chip Karma Performance Cham-pionship, on Elizabeth Harvey's seven-year-old chestnut horse Easter Hullabalou.