HOYS is happy hunting ground for French rider

Julien Epaillard has won his second international class in as many days at the Horse of the Year Show (HOYS), this time winning the Grandstand Trophy.

Pick your own line

The competition sees riders choose their own route over six fences in the jump-off. Julien had the advantage of going last, as he had fastest time in the first round.

First to go was Trevor Breen, who won the class last year on Adventure du Kannan, setting the standard with a fast clear on Classic. His brother Shane also jumped clear on Undicci, but wasn’t as fast as his younger sibling.

Francois Jr Mathy proved Trevor’s time could be beaten, to take the lead on 22.30sec. However, this was followed by an even faster round from Sweden’s Angelie von Essen and West Falica (22.04sec).

It looked like the Swedish rider, who won the ReadySupp Cup the day before, would enjoy another big win, but last to go was Julien and Christallo A LM.

Happy hunting

The French rider took the pressure in his (fast) stride to win the class in 21.43sec.

“I tried to make my first round as fast as possible so I could go last in the jump-off, and I felt it all went very well,” said Julien.

This put Angelie second, Belgium’s Francois third (Polinska Des Isles) and Trevor and Shane fourth and fifth, respectively.

HOYS is a happy hunting ground for Julien, who was Leading Showjumping of the Year in 2014. With two big wins he is well on his way to qualifying for this year’s competition tomorrow night (11 October).

“It has been a good start to the show,” he said. “Not every day is the same in this sport, but we try to do our best.”

Five Fence Challenge

The big showjumping class of yesterday afternoon was the Zinc Management Five Fence Challenge, which ended in a three-way tie between Helen Tredwell (Sebastian VII), Michael Whitaker (Quelbora Merze) and Billy Twomey (Diaghilev).

The competition sees five fences go up in height in each round, with points gained for every obstacle jumped. After the fourth round, with the jumps at around 1.70m, the three riders agreed to share the winner’s purse, collecting just over £2,260.

“I am over the moon with my horse,” said Helen. “He has never jumped anything like that before.

“He got better and better over the four rounds, and they were really big fences out there.”