Golvers Hill

Tim Stockdale gives his take on the former working hunter and 2017 Hickstead Derby winner

WATCHING Golvers Hill jump his way to victory in this year’s CSI4* Al Shira’aa Hickstead Derby, you’d be hard pushed to imagine him as a rotund working hunter. But that’s exactly how he started his career.

“His owner Susan Simmons bought him as a four-year-old and I started him off in British novice and discovery classes before Sue took him on to do working hunter showing,” explains international showjumper Nigel Coupe. “He did a bit of both for a few years and in 2011, he competed in three finals at the Horse of the Year Show — the Cuddy working hunter final with Sue, and the newcomers and Foxhunter finals with me.”

The following year, Sue did the worker season on him before Nigel persuaded her to let him jump “Ricky” full time.

“The first thing we did was strip him of his showing fat,” says Nigel. “Although he looks on top form at the moment, we do have to watch his weight because he only has to look at grass and he gets porky.”

The Irish gelding has come a long way since his working hunter days. In fact, his Derby win at Hickstead came off the back of two very near misses — they were second in 2015 and fifth last year.

“Ricky’s greatest attribute is that he loves being in the limelight, which makes him very competitive,” says Nigel. “He gets upset and leaps about if a horse in the collecting ring has a fence down — he thinks every horse should be as serious about their job as he is.”

Another of the horse’s quirks is that he is grumpy in his stable.

“When you go in and pat him, he gives you a look as though to say, ‘You’d better have a good reason for being in here.’ He’s just got a bit of attitude, but it’s that attitude that gives him the edge in the ring.”