Mannix took topped the yearly leaderboard for the official novice with horse GP Starkozy as well as the unofficial prelim with Mella.

"I'm really satisfied with my results, particularly with the younger of the two (Mella) because it is a very inexperienced horse," he said.

"We'd won a few classes early in the year but then we didn't do too many towards the end of the year for various reasons. But she did so well at the start of the year when she was at her greenest, so myself and owner Mark Eastwood were really pleased with her."

A points tally is kept throughout the season, so when the competition prematurely finished due to COVID, Mannix knew he had done enough to get over the line.

"I knew then that we'd pretty much won by default because of the rest of the success during the year."

Mannix, of Kintail Equine Services, moved to Orange in 1993 from Bourke and has been with the Central West group pretty much since then.

"We're professional riders, it's our business, so it's important that we go out and compete and show ourselves like that," Mannix added,

"It's not just good for us personally and our personal satisfaction of doing well in the sport, but also the fact that it's good for our business that we can mix it with the younger riders.

"The horses that we take are eventers, but you don't do well in eventing if you don't get your dressage right."

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