HOYS kicks off with top performances

Horse of the Year Show (HOYS) is well under way with top performances from some of Britain’s up-and-coming showjumpers.

‘Clear round machine’

Alex Gill won the Blue Chip Pony Newcomers Championship, defending his 2013 title. This is only the second time in HOYS history that a junior rider has achieved back-to back wins in this class.

Alex was riding seven-year-old Connemara Kingstown Rebel, who evented before he took on the ride.

“He only started [show]jumping in January, but he’s a clear round machine – he’s something else,” said the 16-year-old from North Yorkshire. “He’s also a really quick – he has always been banging on the door for a win like that. Once we found our turns we were really confident. We just tried our best and it came off.”

Alex was the out-and-out winner, achieving a fast clear in the jump-off in a time of 39.82sec. In second place were Faye Adams and Rainbows Mocha (41.27sec), who finished just 0.11sec ahead of Abbie Bevan and Eclips Vi who took third.

Prestigious

This class was followed by the Canaan Farm Equestrian Young Riders Championship of Great Britain, considered to be one of the most prestigious championships for under 21s.Riders eligible must have competed in the 2014 British Young Riders or Junior European team, or be in the British Showjumping Young Riders ranking list.

Only four made it through to the jump-off, with 19-year-old Chloe Winchester from Suffolk posting the fastest clear onboard Avoca Valkyri (36.97secs) to win the class.

AlfieBradstock and Caicos also jumped a double clear but weren’t quite quick enough, which put them in second place (38.51sec), while Christie Pritchard was third after Waldemar had one down in the jump off. LauraRobinson and Calmond also had four faults to come fourth.

League points

Earlier in the day JuliaHelm won the British Showjumping Bronze League Championship onboard Helms Tolu. Richard Barton took the title in the Silver League riding Solitary Boy.

Riders competing in these championships made it to HOYS after collecting league points throughout the year. They then had to compete in the semi-finals to qualify for the NEC in Birmingham.