Hickstead Derby preview
What ingredients make the perfect Hickstead Derby horse? Sarah Radford finds out
What ingredients make the perfect Derby horse?
FROM a 14.2hh Irish pony to some mighty 17.2hh warmbloods, the Hickstead Derby has seen winners of all moulds in its 57-year history.
Ask riders what a horse requires to conquer the daunting 1.60m track and there is one overwhelming consensus: they must be brave.
The legendary showjumping course poses unique questions — challenging horses and riders just as intensely today as it did on its inaugural running in 1961.
Iconic fences — such as the Derby Bank, with its stomach-churning 3.20m (10’6”) drop, and the tricky triple rails and ditch at the Devil’s Dyke — create their share of drama year on year. It’s testament to just how tough this track is that there have still been only 57 clear rounds in the class’s history.
That a horse mustn’t balk at natural obstacles is a given, but in a competition that seldom reaches a jump-off, it’s clear they must also be extremely careful. Aside from its big ditches and unusual hazards, the course has an unusually high percentage of imposing verticals, with only four oxers on the track.
“They need to be a bit of a freak. My horse is the most careful horse I’ll ever ride. He’s so sensitive for a big horse,” says Harriet Nuttall, who has finished second with the rangey
17.2hh Irish gelding A Touch Imperious for the past two years.
“It doesn’t matter what size they are but they have to be very brave. They also need to be settled and intelligent — but not too intelligent [so they overthink the questions].”
With a time allowed of 180sec — more than
‘She was a rib too long which made coming down the bank quite uncomfortable, but she was an exceptional mare with
a lot of go in her’
Peter Charles on his triPle Derby winner CorraDa
twice that of a typical showjumping round — the Derby also demands stamina and fitness. It’s not uncommon to see horses jump clear through some of the trappiest obstacles only to pick up faults as a result of tiredness towards the end of the course.
But the long, straight runs between the fences, without the related distances and dog legs you often find on a modern track, do allow for more time to reorganise. It’s part of what gives rise to the idea that there is a Derby “type” — a horse that thrives in the Hickstead ring more than at other venues.
“Horses that jump a derby well are often puissance horses. They’re brave and big, they have power but they might not necessarily be very adept at a technical grand prix track,” observes Hickstead’s Lizzie Bunn.
TINA FLETCHER’S 2011 Derby winner Promised Land — who also jumped a clear in 2010 — is an example of a hot and exuberant horse who sometimes looked difficult to contain in a smaller ring.
“Because they need to be super brave, it does suit puissance types,” agrees Tina. “They can’t be a complete nutter though — they have to have self-preservation coming down that bank.
“Promised Land was hot, but when he came to fences, he had more self-preservation than any horse you can imagine. You could put your granny on him to hack out and I knew there was no way he’d try anything silly like jumping from the top of the bank.”
As well as the bravery and carefulness that Tina says made him the “perfect” Derby contender, the part-thoroughbred and partHolsteiner also had enough blood to keep his engine running until the end of the track.
“He’s the sort that kept himself fit but if you had a slightly more common, cold horse then fitness would be massively important,” she adds.
At 17hh, the son of Gale Force (Burgraaf ) was also one of the nine consecutive Derby winners since 2008 to stand above 16.3hh.
While the records suggest that size is a definite bonus, when it comes to vital stats there are some other noteworthy trends.
Although there have been younger winners, many have been in their mid-tolate teens when they have found success — while John Whitaker rode 21-year-old Gammon to victory in 1998 and 20-year-old Welham in 2000.
Almost all of the Derby winners have been geldings — no stallions and only two mares have ever claimed the Boomerang trophy.
One of these was John Popely’s 1997 victor Bluebird and the other was Peter Charles’s triple winner Corrada, who dominated between 2001 and 2003.
A hot, 17.2hh Holsteiner with a lot of blood, Corrada proved one of the most careful horses ever to jump the track, producing three clear rounds.
“I don’t think any horse won it as easily as her, not even Boomerang. It felt like jumping a Foxhunter on her. She never touched a pole,” says Peter.
“She was a rib too long which made coming down the bank quite uncomfortable, but she was an exceptional mare with a lot of go in her.”
Corrada also bucked the trend by leaving all the poles standing on her first attempt at the track, while most riders find horses need to familiarise themselves with Hickstead’s unique challenges.
“You hardly ever get a horse that goes round first time and wins. They need to know the course a little,” says Tina.
“I think they do need to get used to it,” acknowledges Lizzie. “Once they’ve been round once or twice, they’ve had experience not just of the course but of the occasion.
“You want them to be concentrating on the fence in front of them, not drifting off the rails because they are not used to the crowds.”
Indeed, one of the keys to having a Derby champion seems to lie in whether or not horses meet the challenge of rising to Hickstead’s electric atmosphere.
“You get some horses that shrink in that ring and some who grow,” observes Harriet. “Silver Lift [last year’s Speed Derby winner] shrinks but then the adrenalin kicks in. A Touch Imperious always wants to do it, he isn’t fazed.”
Trevor Breen, back-to-back victor with Adventure De Kannan and Loughnatousa WB in 2014 and 2015, adds: “You certainly don’t want them shrinking as they go under that archway.
“What Addy and WB have in common is that they are both scopey, they are both intelligent and they both love Hickstead. It’s a daunting ring and some don’t like it, but I’ve been lucky they rise to it.”
While Adventure De Kannan, who will be retired at Hickstead this year, has unrivalled form at the venue, winning the eventing grand prix, the All England grand prix, Speed Derby, Derby and Queen Elizabeth II Cup, it is somewhere the striking but excitable WB has also excelled.
“He just loves it. He’s what you’d call a horse made for the Derby. He loves the day and he even loves it when you train for it,” says Trevor.
IN the Derby, experience is a significant plus. It’s been a common pattern to see Hickstead heroes emerge from consecutive wins and familiar rivalries.
Three other combinations have matched or exceeded Corrada’s triple victory — Michael Whitaker and Monsanta (1991-1993); William Funnell and Mondriaan (2006, 2008, 2009) and the legendary four-time winners Eddie Macken and Boomerang (1976-1979).
All of these combinations were not just Derby winners but also world-class horses, although nowadays seeing a triple European champion such as Paul Schockemohle’s Deister (winner in 1982 and 1986) coming down the Derby bank is a rarity.
“Boomerang was a classy horse, he won grands prix all over the world,” notes Lizzie. “These days with top horses as valuable as him, the riders aren’t always prepared to risk them — which isn’t to say they wouldn’t be able to go round and win.”
While the right preparation cannot be underestimated — “you need to do your homework,” says Tina — there is one other factor you need on your side, and that is luck.
“There’s a lot of luck involved, especially coming down the bank. You do your best to get there balanced and in a rhythm, but after that it’s in the lap of the gods,” she says.
Lizzie concurs: “There have been so many unlucky horses, like Carlow Cruiser, who should have had a win [he jumped clear in 2011, but finished as the joint runner-up because he napped and reared, earning four faults for a disobedience].
“There’ve been combinations who could so nearly have won it for a third time, like Kilbaha, who slipped in the jump-off, or fourth time, like Mondriaan, who hated the wet ground in 2007.
“People keep on trying though, and invariably if they want it, eventually they get it.”
‘Because Derby horses need to be super brave, it does suit puissance types. They can’t be a complete nutter though — they need selfpreservation coming down that bank’
TiNA fLeTCHeR