Edwards steals the show
Welsh-based Mark Edwards wins big in England for the second week in a row, while Sammie-Jo Coffin piles on the pressure
WELSHMAN Mark Edwards is making a habit of stealing the top classes from his English rivals. He did it in Norfolk the previous week and he drove back down the M4 to arrive here in equally stunning form.
Mark started where he left off at Royal Norfolk when he and
Its Business Class, a giant son of It’s The Business, flew round to win Friday’s £500-to-the-winner 1.30m two-phase.
The following day, Mark added another £5,000 to his bank account after taking the top two places in the grand prix. Kelvin Bywater built a fittingly testing track for the 22 starters and, despite temperatures soaring to 30°C and a clash with England’s World Cup football quarter-final, a large crowd stayed on to watch.
The ground staff had worked hard on the going, described by Tim Stockdale as “good to firm in places, but very good in others”, but just three horses — two for Mark and one for Sammie-Jo Coffin — could go clear.
They were joined in the jumpoff by Will Fletcher (Everytime Anywhere B) and Laura Renwick (Novita Jovial Z), the fastest fourfaulters from round one, but the finish was fought out by Mark and Sammie-Jo.
Mark produced a great round on his double Royal Norfolk winner Montreuxs Tale and, although Sammie-Jo threw
everything into her round with Bellamy II, she finished just a fraction behind.
Sammie-Jo was another rider who had a long journey here from Cornwall. She couldn’t have been happier with the rounds from Bellamy II, who came to her as an unbroken five-year-old after having a foal. Since then, the feisty Dutch-bred Cardento mare has been a 2014 Foxhunter finalist and came here after winning the area trial at Royal Cornwall.
The pressure was off Mark when he returned on Tinkers Tale. He was already assured of the top spot, so he set off at the gallop on the 12-year-old and, with another flying round, set the fastest time of all.
This was a true father and son occasion, as both horses were bred by Mark’s father Martyn, and Tinkers Tale also sired Montreuxs Tale before he was gelded as a four-year-old.
Martyn has a soft spot for Tinkers Tale, who is out of another of Mark’s former rides, the grade A mare Mammas Tinker.
“He’s always been a favourite one of ours because he was the first really good horse we bred,” Martyn explained.
Mark agreed with his father. “He’s a superstar horse who has taught me how to ride big courses. He missed most of last season due to injury and a virus, so it’s lovely to have him back on top form. I’ve got a really good string at the moment,” said Mark, who will be back down south later this month to ride Montreuxs Tale in the Queen’s Cup at Hickstead’s Royal International.
MISSION ACCOMPLISHED
SAMMIE-JO got her revenge on Mark in Sunday morning’s speed classic, an entertaining class that took place so early that many of Kent’s usual enthusiastic crowd missed it.
Mark’s round on Its Business Class looked impossible to beat, but Sammie-Jo turned Willem De Lux even tighter to take the £1,000 prize by a fraction.
It was mission accomplished for Sammie-Jo.
“I have a seven-hour journey in front of me, so I can now miss the last class and get home earlier,” she explained. “My horse also really enjoyed himself. It was nice to be able to give him some fun over a smaller course.”
Mark put this rare defeat behind him to take another onetwo in the closing Detling Stakes, which also carried a £1,000 first prize. In a three-horse jump-off against his Welsh neighbour Sian Edwards — no relation — he took the honours on Anthony Hill’s Quidde Du Buisson Z. His other ride, Montreuxs Tale, rolled a pole at the penultimate fence, but was a fraction quicker than Sian’s Troo Contest, whose only mistake came in the same place.
Sian was delighted with third place on the eight-year-old she got from John and Laura Renwick three years ago.
“He’s only just out of Foxhunter and missed nearly a year when I had my son. I never in a million years thought he’d be this good, but the bigger fences suit him,” she said of the gelding bred by Old Lodge Stud.
Anthony Hill bought Quidde Du Buisson Z in Belgium as an unbroken three-year-old and Mark, who broke in the nine-yearold, meets up with him at shows.
“He was ridden as a novice by Millie Cornock, who did a great job, and my wife Bernice does the flatwork. He’s the easiest, kindest horse to do,” said Anthony.
A CLOSE-RUN WIN
MARK, who won another £1,000 as the show’s leading rider, was a first-time visitor here, but Kent County must be one of Helen Tredwell’s favourite shows.
The Buckinghamshire-based rider won last year’s area trial on her father Alan’s 13-year-old home-bred mare Larksong.
Helen and the daughter of Vangelis S were back again this year to win the area trial once more, with Helen adding third place on Colin Garrett’s Sebastian VII for good measure.
A good track saw five horses go clear, although there could have been more, as nine others finished with a single fault. Helen jumped the first double clear on Sebastian, but two horses later Keith Doyle breezed into the lead with the smoothest of rounds on Harlequin Dunraven, whose proud owner Darren Hagarty jumped as high as his horse while watching him.
Then it was the turn of
Helen again on her second ride Larksong, and the little mare bounced off the ground to take the £1,500 first prize by almost 3sec. Despite this, it was a close-run thing, as Larksong almost missed the class after losing a shoe in the warm-up area.
“We couldn’t get hold of the show’s farrier, so I took her back to her stable and said I would withdraw her. Then a friend of Sammy Cotton told me that if we could get the judges to give him 10 minutes, he’d put it back on for me,” explained Helen.
“They said yes, so this win was really down to the judges and a fellow competitor.”
She was also delighted with Sebastian’s result after the British-bred son of Unbelievable Darco suffered a loss of form the previous month.
“It turned out that he had a hip problem and blood tests showed he was also fighting some kind of infection. He’s absolutely fine now though and pulled my arms out at his first show back last weekend,” mused Helen.
A competitive accumulator with joker started Saturday’s programme. The joker fence, a huge set of planks, spoiled several good rounds and Maisie Drea looked on course to take the £500 first prize on Kinkeen Diamond. Then in came Will Fletcher from a late draw on Tiger Bright to pip her by almost 2sec.
“She’s turning into a really reliable second horse. She’s been knocking on the door at county shows for a while now, so she deserved a win,” said Will, who left with brother Olli for the young rider and junior European Championships straight after the grand prix.