Majestic Valhalla
A middleweight is supreme for his surprised owner, a former ridden champion proves she’s still got it and the working hunter victors brush off their seconditus
POLLY COLES and the winning open middleweight Bloomfield Valhalla teamed up and gave a polished performance to clinch the National Hunter supreme championship and the coveted Princes’ Grace Trophy.
There was no one more surprised and emotional than Polly herself, as she had been thrown in at the deep end to ride “Richie” in the Horse of the Year Show (HOYS) open hunter championship, where they took the tricolour to gain entry into the supreme.
“I’m so shocked and I’m shaking. I first rode Richie in the hunter championships at Three Counties and this is only my second sit on him,” said Polly, whose mother, Debbie Harrod, recently purchased the Dunroe Diamond Clover six-year-old.
Producer Jayne Ross had earlier taken the ride on Richie in the middleweights and on another of Debbie Harrod’s purchases — Bloomfield Excelsior (Rex) — who won the heavyweight division. Jayne opted to stay on Rex for the championship.
“I’m thrilled for Polly. She did a good job with Richie at Three Counties and they came into their own tonight,” said Jayne.
Polly added: “It’s years since I was in a championship and I just had minutes to put something together. Richie has fantastic paces and a canter you can sit to all day, so not knowing what else he could do, I used the whole ring to show him off.”
The pair never missed a beat to earn the winning score of 26 from judges Rosemary Hetherington, Mary Low and Jane Pybus.
Both horse and rider had upgraded in style, as Polly was amateur hunter champion eight years ago with Redwood Ash (Buzz), who retires at the end of the season, and Richie was novice champion here with