HOYS Day Two – Winning Streak for the Ladies
If you’ve ever been to Horse of the Year show you’ll know it’s jam packed full of action from the minute you arrive. If you dare to go shopping, good luck finding your way back to the main arena where all the main action takes place as the shopping village is just immense!
Day two of this year’s action seen in a dominant winning streak from the ladies! In the TopSpec Arena the British Show Pony Society M&M Working Hunter Pony championships opened the day with the 122cm class. It was not one, but two wins for the Eddis family, topped by an overall Championship title as sisters Lucy and Susie were victorious in their respective sections of The British Show Pony Society Mountain & Moorland Working Hunter Pony of the Year. Lucy later went on to claim the Championship and described the whole day as “amazing” and one which would probably “never happen again”.
Lucy won the Exc. 143cm section riding her mother Polly Eddis’ Cashel Bay JJ, a Connemara gelding by Castleside JJ. The 13-year-old pony is no stranger to HOYS. He competed and was placed in the same class with his previous owner Victoria Leavesley, and competed here again with Lucy in 2014 and 2015.
The final sections of the NPS/Baileys Horse Feeds M&M Ridden Pony of the Year Championships followed on with the Dartmoor/Exmoor/Shetland pony breeds. The overall championships for the 11 native breeds were held in the evening performance under the lights of the Andrews Bowen International Arena. Top honours went to the Welsh Section B stallion Cadlanvalley Buzby, owned by Hayley Grota and shown by Katy Marriott-Payne, who was over the moon to add this prestigious HOYS title to her wins. Katy said: “I’m speechless – I wanted it so badly. I’ve won every major title but this one had always eluded me!”
The SEIB Search for a Star sections then got under way in the TopSpec Arena. The winner of each section will go forward to the final on Sunday where they will have another opportunity to show off their star qualities to the judges, this time in the Andrews Bowen International Arena. The Hack winner was Izzat Starlight ridden by Elishia Melnyk and owned by Terri Melnyk. The Riding Horse section went to Aramis owned and ridden by Chloe Hiscock. Chloe bought the dun gelding as an unbroken three year old.
Seven-year-old bay gelding Kerannen Brynn took the Riding Club Show Horse with Jenny Eyton-Jones, who has also had her horse since a three year old. Jenny got married just three weeks ago and has had to put the honeymoon on hold for HOYS!
Yesterday was the first day of the International show jumping which kicked off with the ReadySupp Cup won by Joe Whitaker. Yorkshireman Joe, brother of former Great Britain team rider Ellen Whitaker, landed the ReadySupp Cup – a two-phase competition against the clock.
Opening the evening performance was the Grandstand Welcome Stakes won by Belgium rider Karel Cox. Karel, who was a member of the Belgian team that finished second at this year’s Hickstead Nations Cup, landed the Grandstand Welcome Stakes with Caven van het Hobos, claimning a top prize of £7,350.
Welsh challenger Laura Pritchard recorded the highlight win of her career so far when she captured the Senior Foxhunter Championship at the Horse of the Year Show.
The 22-year-old from Anglesey guided Horse Victory’s Fayot home by half a second from runner-up Billy Twomey and Eindhoven GH, with Richard Barton taking third spot on Donata at the NEC in Birmingham. Previous winners of the class, which was first contested in 1954, include Harvey Smith, Graham Fletcher and Michael Whitaker, but Laura added her name to that list in impressive fashion after delivering a confident jump-off performance.
HOYS looks forward to welcoming the dressage riders to the show for today’s Dressage Masterclass with Carl Hester and the Arbonne Dressage Future Elite Championships featuring two time Olympic gold medallist Charlotte Dujardin.
Suzanne Ashton, Founder of Everything Horse (Est, 2012), has a BA Hons in Marketing Management and a Diploma in Equine Science. Suzanne has ridden and owned horses all her life and has twelve years of experience in marketing, writing, design, SEO, and website creation.