Sarratt event and dressage rider Daisy Coakley will be bidding to add to her growing collection of national titles after earning eight qualifications for next month’s Winter British Dressage Championship.

The 22-year-old won her fifth national title at last year’s championships by taking top spot in the Spiller medium restricted music freestyle and will be hoping to improve on her current total of seven national titles at Hartpury College in Gloucester next month.

Coakley has qualified for the British Championships with four horses: Judy Firmston-Williams’ eight-year-old KPWN mare Cleopatra II, Felicity Norrie’s 13-year-old KPWN Urbanus and 11-year-old Irish Sports Horse, Affinity Bay. She has also qualified with nine-year-old KPWN Bing, owned by Melise Witkins.

And Coakley is going with one aim in mind.

“I am the sort of person who sets out goals in advance of competition so I want all the horses to go and win,” she said. “As part of the EXCEL Talent Programme, I am expected to get to these competitions.”

Bing will compete in the advanced medium, medium, advanced medium freestyle and medium freestyle categories, whilst Cleopatra II will contest the advanced medium and advanced medium freestyle. Both Urbanus and Affinity Bay have qualified for the advanced medium competition.

The difference between the freestyle and non-freestyle categories is the former is set to music, whilst the advanced and advanced medium test levels refer to different movements of varying degrees of difficulty which must be included.

For example, the medium should include an extrended trot or walk, a pirouette in walk, a half pass in trot or canter and a traverse. Whereas the advanced medium routine must incorporate a half pass, zig-zags, eight-metre circles in canter (collected) and a serpentine in canter with flying changes.

Coakley qualified for the British Championships by claiming two first-place finishes at Addington Manor in Feburary, first, second and third-place finishes at Patchetts Equestrian Centre later in the month and three wildcard selections, awarded to the best runners-up in qualifying.

The championships begin on April 15 and run for four days.