Clayton’s northern triumph
Joe Clayton lands the coveted Cock O’ The North title in a show where bornand-bred Yorkshire locals clean up
JOE CLAYTON scored end-toend victories in Great Yorkshire’s vast arena as, after winning the opening class on day one riding Via VD Karmenhoek Z (Emile), the pair returned to claim one of the most coveted national showjumping titles, the Ripon Select Foods Cock O’ The
North Championship.
Yorkshire-born Joe had come close to winning before, riding Mr Darcy to come third in 2011, but after producing two perfect rounds, a well-judged final effort saw them post the winning time of 49.52sec.
“I was quietly confident, but you just never know here. Emile has jumped a puissance before, so I knew big fences didn’t bother him, but this is the first time he’s seen a double of walls.
“It’s great to have plenty of crowd support and, although I felt the pressure to the last fence, I never had an anxious moment,” said Joe.
The partisan crowd were delighted to see an all-Yorkshire finish as the three riders producing initial clear rounds, Joe Clayton, Jamie Gornall and James Whitaker, were born in the white rose county.
In round two, Jamie Gornall and Joe Clayton again produced impressive clears from Christian 25 and Emile, but James Whitaker had to settle for third when Glenavadra Brilliant lowered the gate.
Jamie Gornall’s ride, the big-jumping Christian 25, had oozed confidence in every round and it was game on when, despite a rub at the Yorkshire planks, the Cartani stallion produced an economical triple clear in 51.42sec to leave last-drawn Joe Clayton no room for error.
Using Emile’s speed, Joe cut corners and travelled across the ground quickly, and they rolled on to the final oxer to finish
2secs ahead.
With the hushed crowd then breaking into rapturous applause, Joe savoured every moment on a victory lap of honour with hat held high.
“Emile covers the ground and gets to his fences quickly enough, which helps, and, although the water tray at number three was tricky, he has huge scope and is very careful.
“I thought we were quicker, but began to have a doubt, so we kept on coming to the last and when the crowd cheered, I knew we had done it,” said Joe, who is just a few months into his partnership with Geir Gulliksen’s Dutch-bred 12-year-old gelding.
Joe and Emile prepared for Yorkshire at the Hickstead Derby meeting, where they finished second in the Hickstead Masters and third in the Bunn Leisure Tankard. They had a dream start here when winning the first William Hanson stakes.
“The ring here is tricky, especially for horses who haven’t been before, but the ground is good and Emile coped well,” concluded Joe, who is based with Mike Elvin in Melton Mowbray.
‘I HOPED TO LEAVE EVERYTHING UP’
MAKING his showjumping debut at Great Yorkshire, Jamie Gornall made a productive visit and was delighted to take second in the finale with Christian 25.
“This was a fantastic class and my horse jumped three unbelievable rounds. He finished fourth to Joe on the first day and that raised my hopes for going well today. Christian’s jump is spectacular, but he spends a lot of time in the air and it’s always a danger that he can be out-run in a jump-off,” Jamie explained.
“All credit to Joe, as he answered every question we laid
down,” said Jamie, who claimed a major win when Carsten produced a flying round to win the International Stairway.
“With three clears in the jumpoff, I hoped to leave everything up, stay within Carsten’s comfort zone and be quick enough,” he added.
A field of 28 took on Lisa Kelly’s 13-fence first round track.
With the rules of the competition bringing all clears, or the top five combinations through to the jump-off, five progressed to the final round.
Two of those, Mennell Watson (Whisper In The Wind) and Helen Tredwell (Larksong), carried their first round score of four faults forward. The remaining three were on a clear; Keith Shore, Jamie Gornall and Kerry Brennan having the favoured late draw.
After Whisper In The Wind took a rail down in the jump-off to finish fifth, Helen Tredwell put the pressure on the trio of clears when Larksong added nothing to their first round score of four faults to finish in 56.46sec.
Keith Shore immediately answered back, with Betty Brandon’s home-bred Mystic Hurricane (Hurry). The son of Tornado never looked like touching a rail and posted the first double clear in 60.43sec.
“Hurry was a bit fresh yesterday, but he had more to look at today. As the focus was on the Cock O’ The North, it was mission accomplished to jump a double clear rather than rush against the clock,” said Keith, who frustratingly finished on four faults in the final feature class after the lightest touch brought the planks down in the first round.
The Stairway lead changed hands again when penultimate drawn-Jamie Gornall and Carsten put in a quick spurt over the last two fences, the Cassini stallion finishing clear in 57.79sec.
“With this being a big grass arena with a gradient, it’s a difficult ring to gauge and you can easily be drawn into distances. You need to know your horse and the ground, so I’m over the moon to win in such good company on our first visit,” explained Jamie, who last competed at Great Yorkshire in a working hunter class.
In between times, Jamie has spent seven years riding in Germany at the yards of Janne Friederike Meyer and Ludger Beerbaum, and he is now based locally in Kirk Hammerton.
Last-drawn Wellington M
rolled a rail from the first part of the double, crossing the line in 56.93sec to earn fourth place for Kerry Brennan.
AT THE RACES
YORKSHIREMAN Paul Barker is always a force to be reckoned with and, although there has been a gap of quite a few years since he rode a winner here, the Northallerton rider put that right in double-quick time with two wins riding Happy Boy.
Paul was quick off the mark on the opening night when
Happy turned into fences from the most acute angles in the Badsworth Stakes accumulator before powering over the final 1.60m plank joker to score maximum points in the fastest time of 44.34sec.
Next-placed riders Anthony Condon and Keith Shore were also at the races, with the pair galloping, twisting and turning the full length of this vast arena. Dublin V (44.60sec) and Iron Lady Van’T Meulenhof (44.64sec) answered every call to take the next two places in a blanket finish.
The drama was not over though, as Hickstead Speed Derby champions Matt Sampson and Topflight True Carlo finished seemingly clear in the fastest time of all (see box, p62).
After recent wins at Bramham and the British Masters, the winning run of Paul Barker and Happy Boy showed no signs of letting up, and the pair were again in their element in the Rudding Park table C, where they took an early lead.
“Happy has been on form and he’s a good speed horse as he can run, turn and jump from almost anywhere. We had to chance some tighter than usual angles, but there is always plenty of opposition here,” said Paul.
Another Yorkshire regular ran him close in the speed class, as former Cock O’ The North winner Laura Stephenson (riding Sultano in 2008) put in a spirited late challenge to finish just off the pace.
Laura, a British Showjumping UKCC level 2 coach, was lucky to be competing here.
“I have a slipped disc and pain flares up every so often but, luckily, painkilling injections did the trick. Connor was awesome today and I couldn’t have asked for any more,” said Laura.
PERSEVERANCE PAYS
THE mini-major pairs relay again provided plenty of thrills and spectator interest as 12 128cm pony riders teamed up with a senior partner.
Having won the HOYS 128cm second round at Bishop Burton a few days earlier, Poppy Deakin and Munsboro Plunkett (Oscar) survived a slip going into the planks and got her partner Millie Allen (Newton Tigra) off to a flying start, the pair gaining a 3sec winning margin.
“This is the first time I have ridden Oscar on grass and the slip gave us quite a fright, but he picked up and took fences on the angle well,” said Poppy.
Millie Allen was relieved to post an equally fast clear.
“It’s a different sort of pressure when you are partnering a pony rider and I didn’t want to let Poppy down.
Luckily, my mare is fast and careful,” said Millie.