Coffin racks up a quadruple whammy
A Cornish rider dominates her local county show, while a Welsh lady comes out on top of an all-female grand prix jump-off and an all-rounder pony scores
SAMMIE-JO COFFIN is always considered the rider to beat on her home turf. At Royal Cornwall she didn’t disappoint, winning four classes on four different horses and taking the lion’s share of the placings.
It was Sammie’s seasoned campaigner Willem De Lux who clinched a cliffhanger of an area trial on day two. A compact firecracker of a horse, the whitefaced gelding bounced his way into the jump-off and sealed the deal with a second speedy clear.
“He’s only 16.1hh but he has such a big heart and just wants to do it,” said Sammie, who used successful trips to Mijas, Spain, and Vilamoura in Portugal this spring to get the 14-yearold Lupicor gelding match-fit. “Willem has done everything for me — he’s definitely my horse of a lifetime.”
Steve Williams’ track proved challenging, with 17 separate jumping efforts and an uphill finish that sifted just three clears from a small but quality field. When Paul Bevan rubbed a jumpoff pole with his scopey chestnut Deangelo II, Sammie and Willem blazed a trail with their trademark attacking style.
“I knew we had to go quick and stay tight,” said Sammie, whose almost side-on approach to some of the bigger oxers drew gasps from the crowd. “I don’t have to chase Willem. He loves grass and he thrives on the county show rings — you can get a few holes’
‘She jumps big, but she doesn’t
have a gallop button yet’
SARA ARKELL ON GRAND PRIX WINNER FEARLESS VN’T ZORGVLIET
extra height from him out there.”
Andrew Williams, last to go, rode a fluent round with
Codar in the horse’s first-ever area trial. The promising Darco gelding was a fraction up on time until an unlucky pole down at the final fence denied Andrew the chance to repeat his success from last year.
Sammie was riding on the back of an earlier grade C victory with Catch The Pigeon II. Georgia Stokes, who owns seven-year-old Pigeon, explained that a gamble at Goresbridge Sales in Ireland was paying off handsomely.
“We saw him over there as a four-year-old and I think people were a bit scared of him, being unbroken and with a blemish,” she said. “Whereas others weren’t prepared to take the risk, you don’t tend to worry when you have super crash-test dummy Sammie to take them on.
“Pigeon has been a superstar from his first British novice,” added Georgia, a grand prix dressage rider who runs SOS Competition Horses near Sticker, Cornwall. “We haven’t even scratched the surface with him yet.”
Sammie then held an early lead throughout the 1.35m open with Boebka, a Dutch-bred mare owned by Sandra and Dick Gummow. William Hole’s Devils Kiss, who finished a close second, had her chance to shine with Sammie in a competitive open accumulator.
“The going was a bit wet and sticky by then,” said Sammie, who beat South Wales-based
Mark Edwards into second with Greenvale Cara and third with Montreuxs Tale. “I knew that
Mark had been quick on one already and was coming again after me, so I just kept kicking.”
Along with Quidde Du Buisson Z, who was third in the area trial, Mark had three seven and eightyear-olds at the show.
“They’re all green at this level, but the ring here brings them on,” said Mark. “Quidde is knocking on the door for a big win.”
GIRL POWER
IN an all-female grand prix jumpoff, it was Swansea-based rider Sara Arkell with Fearless Vn’t Zorgvliet who broke the Cornish stranglehold.
First round four-faulters Sammie and Simply Splendid were first up and produced a fast clear, while Gail Burchmore added to her tally and admitted that her 12-year-old Levisto mare Leva Z was tiring around a punishing track.
“It’s her first big show of the
year, so she’s not quite fit enough
for a long course,” said Gail. “But Leva loves the big occasions and never says no. I went a bit too quick at first, aiming to make the others make mistakes.”
Sammie then produced another clear with Willem De Lux, but the pair had carried over an uncharacteristic time-fault from round one. Willem would nevertheless finish runner-up, as he had in the 1.40m open.
Sara’s tactic with Fearless was to go for a second steady clear.
“She has produced a lot of clear rounds, but she jumps big and isn’t fast,” explained Sara of the powerful 12-year-old mare, who was giving each fence some air. “She doesn’t have a gallop button
‘He has a massive engine; you
press a button and he’s off ’
ADAM ELLERY ON 1.40M OPEN WINNER UBANK
yet and I knew that the fourfaulters would be faster than me.”
The plan paid off when last-togo Angie Thompson and Bayard IV knocked two down.
“Fearless has been in the money on all three days, but this is a great win,” said Sara, whose long-term owner and supporter John Jones was already planning “plenty of bubbly” to celebrate. “She was a broodmare and didn’t start jumping until she was seven, which is probably why she has such a strong personality.
“The plan now is to go to Norfolk to do the Stairway, and to get a lot of grands prix under our belt.”
‘OFF AT WARP SPEED’
LOCAL rider, breeder and producer Adam Ellery took the 1.40m open with Ubank, an eightyear-old gelding that first caught his eye as a foal.
“He was bred by the Robsons of Bolventor, a local farming family,” explained Adam. “He was on a mare who came to me for covering and I noticed immediately that he was a lovely, big-fronted foal with a hell of a presence. When they rang me two years later to ask if I wanted to buy him, I didn’t hesitate.”
Adam, whose base at Westcountry Sports Horses is just a few miles from the showground, co-owns Ubank with Darren Juleff. The big-striding gelding triumphed in a seven-strong jump-off.
“He’s a character and you have to meet him halfway on everything, but he really let me ride him,” said Adam, who steadied Ubank for a double and
made a lovely tight turn to the second-last. “I had a lucky late draw and he’s superb in such a big ring. He’s a quick-thinking horse and naturally competitive, with a massive engine — you press a button and he’s off at warp speed.”
Adam was left lamenting the fact that he didn’t push on a bit in the grand prix, as Ubank missed the final five by the tightest of margins after an unlucky four faults. He also lost out with Daddy Cool III in the accumulator when his riding boot clipped a wing and lowered a pole, but he was placed in the grade C with Marlvaro and his “novicey” Jeres De Verdem stepped up to produce a promising round with just one pole down.
In the 1.20m pony open Charlotte Vincent and Dun Paddy II produced the only clear from a small field. The 14hh Irish-bred gelding also events and hunts with Charlotte, 15, who is an active member of Cornwall’s Western Hunt branch of the Pony Club.
“He hadn’t done much when we bought him three years ago,” said Charlotte, who later contested the working hunter ponies with him. “This was the biggest course we’ve jumped this year.”