Showjumping
Yazmin Davis dominates the two big classes, and a little horse takes strides out to gallop to a 1.35m victory
Bury Farm, Bishop Burton, international highlights and more
Bury Farm All Stars, Bucks
YAZMIN DAVIS has had some good days here, including a grand prix victory in 2014, and, after capturing the top two places in Friday’s big speed class on Zilverster II and Zanbowa Z, the 23-year-old did it again in Friday evening’s grand prix, albeit with her horses finishing in reverse order.
Paul Connor designed the perfect first-round course for this flagship class. There were plenty of questions, but there was also room to get to the 1.45m fences and the class gave horses stepping up to the level a good experience.
Six were clear, with young female talent coming to the fore in Yazmin and Georgia Tame, who also had two through. Mark Edwards carried the hopes of Wales, while Staffordshire’s Paul Bevan represented the more senior riders.
Paul started the jump-off on the nine-year-old Deangelo II, a son of Tangelo Van De Zuuthoeve he has produced through the grades. They settled for fifth after leaving two poles on the floor, but Paul wasn’t too disappointed.
“He’s a big horse for an indoor arena and both mistakes were mine,” he reflected.
The winning round came next. Zanbowa Z, a Horse of the Year Show (HOYS) Foxhunter finalist earlier this month, may be only eight, but he is growing in stature. The further and faster he went, the better he jumped and with a huge leap over the final fence he and Yazmin set a fabulous target.
Georgia gave it her all on the previous weekend’s Aintree grand prix winner Cash Up and beat the time with one fence down. Then Mark on his homebred seven-year-old Montreuxs Tale, who arrived here after jumping well in three HOYS finals, gave everything to finish a fraction off Yazmin’s time in their first grand prix.
Things didn’t go to plan for Georgia and second ride Z7 Cordanos V, so Yazmin had the luxury of jumping the final round with the knowledge that the £2,000 top prize was already hers. Her athletic mare Zilverster II moved into second place, just 0.07 of a second behind her stablemate, to a huge ovation from the packed crowd.
“I can’t believe how well we’ve done, though my horses do love it here,” she said. “When I walked the course, I thought it wasn’t massive but full of technical lines. This was the best ever performance from Zanbowa and what makes it even better is that I produced them both from the start.”
Yazmin started riding on a naughty 11hh pony.
Her mother Alison remembers: “She did leadrein jumping, hunter trials and hunting. She was always competitive and I used to get told off because I couldn’t run fast enough!”
Yazmin now rides full-time and
has help from John Ledingham. She currently has eight horses competing — “That’s probably too many” — and is looking forward to her final try in Olympia’s under-23 final, in which she is hoping Zilverster will go two places better after last year’s third place.
And what of Zanbowa?
“I was incredibly lucky to find one good horse, so it’s amazing to have another,” she reflected. “He seems to find everything easy, but he has been a challenge. He’s a bit ‘special’, but horses need character to make it to the top. I honestly wouldn’t know how good he’s going to be.”
‘STEEPLECHASING’ WORKS FOR MANTEL
LAURA MANTEL missed the grand prix jump-off with a fence down on Glory B V, but Liz
Howes’ mare was at her best in the 18-horse jump-off on Thursday. Riders tried incredibly hard to take the £1,000 prize and it looked as though Mark Edwards had done enough from fifth draw on Tinkers Tale.
“Do you think I could get down the final line on four strides?” Laura asked another rider before her round.
“If you’re feeling suicidal,” he joked.
But Laura and Glory B V then proceeded to make taking out two strides look relatively easy and triumphed by a good margin.
“I didn’t see Mark’s round, but someone told me he was fast. I shut my eyes, steeplechased the final two fences and that won it for me,” explained Laura. “It’s only our second show indoors and we weren’t lucky at Aintree, so I told her she had to win here — and she has.”
Mark wasn’t always the bridesmaid and in Saturday’s 1.30m A4, he and Greenvale Cara left some top rivals in their wake. Mark partnered this eight-yearold British-bred mare in the HOYS Talent Seekers final.
“She’s really consistent and is naturally quick. She’s been a bit unlucky lately with lots of seconds and thirds,” said Mark, who will keep his horses going until the beginning of December and then give them a break until February.
“They’ve been busy all year and they deserve a nice holiday,” he explained.
Joe Fernyhough put the pressure on in Friday’s 1.30m jump-off with a great round from first draw on Countess II. Nicola Wilson and her earlier 1.20m winner Naomi 55 were second, just ahead of Irishman Derek McCoppin and Point Two Elvis, a gelding sent to him the previous week because owner Jessie Drea is busy with other horses.
“It was at exactly the right time, as Zaire has been sold to [young rider] Faye Adams and I needed another top horse,” explained Derek.
Sixteen-year-old Joe Fernyhough is now working full-time for the family equestrian business in Gloucestershire. The 15.2hh Countess is his only grade A, though he currently has 12 horses to ride.
“The plan is to do junior European trials next year with her and a couple of my most promising young horses,” he said.
CRIPPEN COUPLE DOUBLE UP
SIMON CRIPPEN also won from the front in Thursday’s 1.30m class. He was completing a family double on Atlanta VIII after his wife Abbie won the 1.20m open with a former grand prix winner here, Vilka B. Simon set a fantastic target over a twisty jump-off track on Judy Ross’ mare, whom he is aiming at the grand prix at Keysoe’s CSI.
“She’s brilliant at turning up to verticals and if I could have designed the ideal jump-off course it would have been this one,” he said.
Competitors arrived in good numbers for three early chances to qualify for next spring’s Blue Chip championships. The in-form Helen Tredwell won the Dynamic B&C from last draw of 17 on
New Priory Stud’s seven-yearold Funnycan, with a fraction covering the top three.
“That was a nice run after HOYS and good practice before I take her to a show in Belgium,” said Helen. “She’s the sort of horse who needs lots of outings. If she has time off, she gets very sharp and I need to get more used to her indoors.”
Emma-Jo Slater has an incredible record in these qualifiers and she won the Karma class on Kim Barzilay’s Kings Of Leon. This was the first show after a break for the eight-year-old son of Argento.
“He tried very hard for me, as he has a million times before,” said Emma.
‘ULTIMATE TOY HORSE’ TAKES THREE
NICI WILSON and her “pocket rocket”, Naomi 55, had a great show. They won two 1.20m opens and completed their treble in style in Sunday’s winter 1.25m qualifier. Nici, who combines showjumping and eventing, says she is very lucky to have the 15.1hh daughter of Verdi.
“She’s the ultimate toy horse. Kids can ride her, she hacks out and has field-mastered for the Surrey Union,” she said. “I bought