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August 2014
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August 2014 • VOLUME XIV NUMBER 7
24 PAGES
of show reports, including:
www.localrider.co.uk
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Area 8 Side Saddle TREC Eridge Horse Trials New Forest RC SEWPCA Sunshine Tour Horsham Riding Club Show
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HICKSTEAD SHOW REPORT The Equestrian.com Hickstead Derby Champions, Trevor Breen and Adventure de Kannan
Equestrian.com
Hickstead Derby Meeting Thursday 26th – Sunday 29th June 2014 • Words by Julia Longland The Equestrian.com Hickstead Derby Champions, Trevor Breen and Adventure de Kannan, pictured with Lorraine Meadowcroft director of Equestrian.com and Bronte Patterson, who won the Hickstead Derby Community prize to co-present the trophy.
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he British Jumping Derby at Hickstead has thrown up some dramatic stories since it was started by the late Douglas Bunn 54 years ago. There was victory for 20-year-old Marion Coakes on her pony Stroller in 1967 and for 60-yearold Nelson Pessoa on Loro Piana Vivaldi in 1996. There have been riders falling from the top to the bottom of the Derby Bank, and most famous of all, Harvey Smith’s V-sign to the Master of Hickstead, Duggie Bunn, when he won back the Derby Trophy on Mattie Brown in 1971 after failing to return it following his 1970 victory. This June Irishman Trevor Breen wrote another historic chapter of the Equestrian.com Derby when he became the first to win this unique contest, which carries a total prize fund of £115,000, on a one-eyed horse, Adventure de Kannan, who had his right eye removed a year ago after a long term infection.
Two-hundredths of a second Runners-up in the Equestrian.com Hickstead Derby, last year’s winners, Phillip Miller and Caritiar Z
After a first round of thrills, spills and nine eliminations with nobody going clear, the two 4-faulters, both drawn near the end of the 35 strong field, disputed the closest ever two way jump-off. The 2013 winners Philip Miller and Caritiar Z going for the double, challenged first, but caught the first part of the Devil’s Dyke in a fast 85.19 seconds. This gave Breen the chance he needed, but posed the problem of whether he should try for a steady clear and risk losing out if Addy faulted, or chase the time and pray the fences stayed put. He started carefully, but when the pole in front of the privet oxer
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fell, he steamed onwards and inched home just 0.02 seconds ahead. Breen, 35, based at Gerrards Cross in Buckinghamshire, but Tipperary born like his brother Shane, who lives at Hickstead, said afterwards: “Addy is a real legend. Whether he can or can’t he tries his heart out to do everything I ask, even if it is beyond him. He loves adversity.” The 14-year-old’s notable Hickstead record includes equal second in the 2013 Derby, third in the 2012 Derby, victory in the 2009 Speed Derby and the 2012 Eventers Grand Prix. Preparation this year was severely interrupted when he tweaked a hind suspensory ligament and owner Karen Swann, a vet, organised rehab with swimming and work in water to get him fit in time. And to crown it all Addy was kicked on the hind leg in the warm-up arena on Saturday, the day before the Derby. “He has made a phenomenal recovery,” said Breen. Miller admitted: “I probably got “Carter” too fit in the run-up to Hickstead, as I was struggling to hold him and he towed me all the way round. I thought I was fast enough in the jump off, but after Trevor had that pole down he was off like a rocket. It was Trevor’s day and he deserved it.” The initial circuit was dominated, as so often, by problems at the aptly named Devil’s Dyke, the enclosed treble of rails with the middle element over a sunken water ditch, which caused 25 of the field to collect faults. James Hughes was unshipped from Peiter VI at the ditch, Joe Clayton, one of the Whitaker clan, on Ingliston Twister and Tim Page on Duc d’Arsouilles were both eliminated there and Derby debutante Kayleigh Watts hit the deck when Red Lady caught her legs in the rails.
Guy Williams and Casper De Muze, winners of the Bunn Leisure Speed Derby
Williams’ son George giving his dad a thumbs-up.
Ladies take an early lead
Katie Jerram and Night Prayers took the Nettex Supreme Hack Championship, pictured with Serena Kidd, Business Manager at Nettex recorded the Derby’s 53rd clear round in 2013, were high as he and “Carter” set off and after leaving a brick wobbling on the edge of the wall, went on in style over the Derby Bank and the Dyke to survive another chance when landing close to the tape at the water, but their luck ran out with a strong run to the following Derby rails, which came down. Miller and his 14-yearold grey stallion finished with four faults to take the lead to much applause from the crowd, but three rounds later Breen and Addy equalled this with a mistake into the Dyke to force a jump-off. A pair that looked full of promise, Charlotte Platt and Carlow Cruiser, came to grief when they twisted on landing at the Derby rails, causing Platt to be hurled off and taken away with a bad knee injury. William Whitaker’s challenge on Glenavadra Brilliant went into joint third with a pole down at the fence below the Derby Bank and the Derby rails. The last to go, Ireland’s Captain Michael Kelly and Dollanstown, finished with 13 faults leaving
Peter Lear and Bob The Cob, finished tenth in the Bunn Leisure Speed Derby The winner of the Beethoven 7&8 Year Old Championship, David McPherson and Dreamer III
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The first promising round came from Jade Hooke on her 17-year-old Namibian bred A New Era, the winner of two South African Derbys, who took the lead on eight faults after a mistake at the second fence and the first part of the Dyke. Guy Williams was eliminated on 2010 winner Skip Two Ramiro after a step back on top of the Bank and a refusal at the bottom, and again on Depardieu van T Kiezelhof at the middle of the Dyke, but the up and coming Somerset rider Harriet Nuttall joined Hooke in the lead with a pole down at 3b, the second of the water ditch double and the first part of the Dyke, on her giant-sized Irish bred, A Touch Imperious. Nuttall, 24, whose father Rupert is a Joint Master of the Blackmore & Sparkford Vale Hunt in Somerset and the last amateur to win the Whitbread (Bet 365) Gold Cup in 1997 on Harwell Lad, recently made a significant step-up in her showjumping career as part of Britain’s winning Nations Cup team at Copenhagen. A chance for Grand National winning jockey Robert Power (2007 on Silver Birch) the son of former top Irish international rider Con Power, to attempt a momentous double, vanished when Doonaveeragh O One, who had only made one error in Friday’s Derby Trial, had five down to drop right back. So hopes for Miller, who
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