Cox cruises on to Hickstead
A Manx rider breezes through her JC qualifier to finish first, and a couple of stallions take tickets from the JA classes
HUGE entries were the order of the day at the latest winter 148cm premier show, where as well as major indoor classes, many parents and children braved the cold to compete novice ponies in an outdoor ring.
With places at Hickstead’s Royal International Horse Show (RIHS) at stake, both winter JC qualifiers produced brilliant winning performances, none more so than Sunday’s round from Sinead Cox and her mother Valerie’s Lislan Cruising Lady.
Neil Foster built the perfect course and 16 reached round two, with six going forward against the clock. Courtney Young set the standard on Jamie Fry’s
Zucan V, but Sinead and her lovely mare knocked almost two seconds off the time. The only other treble clear came from Courtney’s second ride, sixyear-old Neil 55, who took an honourable third place in his first attempt at the class.
Sinead, 14, and Lislan Cruising Lady, the reigning national pony discovery champions, do more travelling than most, as they live on the Isle of Man. Sinead got the Irish-bred mare unbroken
in 2014 and has produced her from scratch.
This was some compensation for last season, when they missed Horse of the Year Show (HOYS) qualification by one place on five occasions. Sinead will now return to the RIHS, where she and “Cruising Lady” last competed in the working hunter pony section.
Sinead trains with former British team rider Mark McCourt.
“The ponies were with me last week and I kept them ticking over for Sinead,” Mark said.
Courtney Young shed tears of joy afterwards. This was Courtney’s first ride on “Zucan” since the HOYS foxhunter and newcomers finals. Zucan has since gone to Toby Fry, who decided he did not have enough experience for this qualifier, so Courtney was asked to take over again.
“She’ll have the ride in the final too,” said Toby’s father Jamie Fry.
Holly Cooper rode a brilliant winning round in the previous day’s JC qualifier on the nineyear-old Irish-bred Valentino Supreme. The 14-year-old from Northamptonshire and Tracey Phillips’ mare had been close to qualification several times recently, missing out by just
0.09 of a second at Morris Equestrian Centre.
“I’ve only been riding her for three months and she’s amazing. She has the biggest heart and tries so hard every time,” said Holly, who is trained by Eleni Murphy.
Another of Eleni’s pupils took second spot. Fourteen-year-old Lily Grimwade has established a great partnership with Rosalind Platt’s Bonnies Lass since taking the ride this year. Bonnies Lass lives with her owner in Danbury, Essex, but Lily doesn’t go far to ride her.
“Rosalind’s our neighbour and Lily walks across a field to get to her yard,” explained Lily’s mother Julie. “They’ve only done a few shows together, but Tom Vance has helped her with flatwork and ‘Bonnie’ was on fire today.”
The third ticket went to Aberdeen, courtesy of Nicole Lockhead Anderson. Nicole has been close to qualification with Tiernisks Cruising Clover all season, but Epee Nazar, her other ride for owner Christine Graham, is off to Hickstead now.
“He’s only just moved up to this level, so he’s one for the future,” assessed Nicole’s mother, Claire Lockhead.
DIGBY PLAYS STARRING ROLE
PERDITA DIGBY had such a good Saturday that she gave her 13-year-old Kayleighs Star the following day off. Perdita and her mare began their day with second place behind Elloise Smit (Newtown Samson) in the
Blue Chip JC/JA Pro Sparkle and went on to jump the faster of two treble clears in the Charles Britton JA qualifier.
“She’s so reliable. Not many ponies could go fast in a warm-up class, then jump three clears over a technical JA track,” said Perdita, who is in her final pony year.
Claudia Moore took second place on the already qualified Elando Van De Roshoeve and took a ticket to South View in fourth place with Delflip. This pony is also a winter JC finalist and was in only her second JA qualifier.
“Delflip was doing Foxhunters a year ago, so she’s made a quick step up,” said Claudia’s father Jason.
Local rider Holly Truelove took her ticket in third place with Rexter D’Or, a 13-year-old French-bred stallion she started riding in November.
“He’s not really like you’d expect a stallion to be, but he is a character and when he gets to a show, he’s very forward-going,” said Holly, 14.
A thrilled Megan Morris was the final qualifier on RS Capello, a pony having his first try in a JA class. Megan, a farmer’s daughter from the Scottish Borders, already had JC qualification with the 10-year-old gelding who has taken her from 80cm classes over two seasons.
“We thought we’d have a try, but this was unbelievable,” said Megan’s mother Anne. “Megan’s worked really hard and the best thing was that ‘Capello’ was born near Arena UK, so his breeders came to watch.”
Sunday’s JA qualifications were decided after round one, as four of the seven who jumped clear already had their tickets. Alice Weightman and Cindy VI didn’t touch a fence on Saturday, but collected two time-faults.
They made up for it the following day with a superb performance against the clock.
Huddersfield-based Alice has had the former Pony Club allrounder for two seasons and they are also through to the JC final.
“I always wanted a pony with the potential to jump big tracks and when I tried her, she was just perfect. I knew she was the one for me,” said Alice.
Elsi Jacques qualified after a great round on her British-bred stallion Trevoulter Ladies Man. Elsi, who trains with Mark and Tanya Kyle, was having only her fourth try at 1.30m level.
Harry Wood was equally delighted to take the third ticket home to Stockton-on-Tees on his ride of only a month, Rosalind Platt’s Sligo Furisto Flight.