Innholdsfortegnelse for 07-May-2020 i Horse & Hound

WE find as much joy in reminiscing about what we love as we find sadness in what we miss. And so we bring you this year’s Badminton issue, the “lost Badminton” special. We would all be there now, me on the Horse & Hound tradestand, which is always a wonderful chance to listen to subscribers. There are some I get to talk to every year, some of our longest standing, and I will miss our catch-ups. Our conversations would be interspersed with polite ripples of applause from the dressage arena. The weather and the ground would be ideal – a bit of give from recent rain but not awash, clear and mild but with a cooling breeze. Perfect, in fact. We’d head out to walk the course on Thursday evening,…

IN THE NEWS TRIG POINT British eventer Nicky Roncoroni’s double CIC3* (now CCI4*-S) winner has died aged 18. The Irish Sport Horse gave Nicky her first Badminton completion with a clear across country in 2013. ALPHA CENTAURI’S FOAL The champion three-year-old filly and four-time Group One winner, formerly trained by Jessica Harrington, has safely delivered her first foal, a colt by Galileo. Both mare and foal were bred by the Niarchos family. LOUIS D’OR Henriette Andersen’s grand prix ride has died aged 23. They scored top-10 results on the international and World Cup circuit, with highlights including winning Saumur CDI3* freestyle in 2010 on a score of 74.15%.…

HICKSTEAD has cancelled its 2020 international events owing to the coronavirus pandemic – but a “glimmer of hope” remains for Burghley Horse Trials. The directors of the All England Jumping Course said following further government advice, it was “with regret” the Hickstead Derby meeting (24–28 June) and the Royal International Horse Show (RIHS, 21–26 July) would not take place. In March it was announced the Derby was postponed, but it had been hoped it could run alongside Hickstead’s national show, the All England Jumping Championships (3–6 September). The directors said it is “still the intention” to run the national event. “The health of our staff, competitors, officials, sponsors, trade exhibitors and visiting public is our top priority,” said the directors. “We are working with the relevant showing societies to ensure…

NOW is your chance to own dressage superstar Valegro’s “full brother” – the only downside being that he only has one leg. Valegro II has been in training with Carl Hester and Charlotte Dujardin but as he has failed to grow big enough, he is being auctioned by Dressage Anywhere, in aid of the NHS Charities Together Covid-19 Appeal. “Valegro II was kindly donated by Laurel Designs, who bred him,” a spokesman for Dressage Anywhere said. “The winning bidder will be invited to meet Valegro to see the two brothers together when they collect Valegro II from Carl and Charlotte’s yard in Gloucestershire, once it’s safe to do so.” • Visit: jumblebee.co.uk/ dressageanywhere to bid, by 10 May.…

ON the day I am writing this, New Zealand has just begun to ease restrictions and emerge from one of the world’s most stringent lockdowns. Meanwhile, the UK has held a minute’s silence to remember those key workers who have given their lives during the coronavirus pandemic. It is not over yet, and a lot of patience will be needed. Now is the time really to focus on the good things we have and to make the best of those. At the same time, there is a lot going on in the background to prepare for the time when restrictions ease in the UK. The sport operations team at British Dressage (BD) are working on various models for a return to competition when it is safe to do so. While…

IT is hard to believe what we are all going through at the moment, with all sport cancelled for the foreseeable future – although there is talk of Flat racing starting on 15 May behind closed doors. There has never been a time in my training career when it is so important to remain positive and hopeful for the future of both my business and the sport. I am currently training two horses instead of 70, which is not an ideal situation for any business model. Normally, the majority of my horses – bar those who are likely to be running during the summer – go out for their holidays in early May and return to training in the first week of July. Seven weeks is certainly long enough for…

“APRIL without Badminton is like Christmas without plum pudding,” wrote H&H columnist Loriner in 1975. Unrelenting rain had left competitors and spectators wallowing in the mud and organisers with no choice but to cancel the event. The event is now normally held in May, but Loriner’s statement echoes the sentiments of many this week, with coronavirus denying us our annual pilgrimage to Gloucestershire for “The Great Event”. Badminton has been cancelled six times since its inception in 1949 and was run as a one-day event in 1963. So who has triumphed in the years following and what are the chances of combinations holding their form? BADMINTON 1975 was already under way – 55 competitors had performed their dressage tests, with Lucinda Prior-Palmer (now Green) and Be Fair leading on a…

“BADMINTON was always an event which inspired me more than any other, and nearly all of my horses seemed to be able to pull out that extra spark when they were there,” remembers Lucinda. “Badminton had an almost mystical effect on me, and that was before I had experienced such great highs as well as lows there. “It is still the ultimate event, the one everyone dreams of winning but never thinks it will happen to them. Now, when I come back, it feels quite different, as though those six wins happened to someone else. I don’t really believe it was me.” 1973 – BE FAIR LUCINDA was only 19 when she won Badminton for the first time, on the family-owned Be Fair, a chestnut gelding with a mind of…

THE lambs have come earlier than expected this year. Somehow the due date got lost in translation and when Matthew, who works here, was doing his rounds of the fields on Saturday there were loads appearing, five days before the official kick-off. It’s not a problem this time though; the sun is shining and when the weather’s this good, lambing outside is a breeze. Still, sheep are sheep and there are always a few that need help. “That one didn’t like its lamb,” said Matthew, pointing along a line of pens. “That one stole someone else’s, that one had a hung lamb. Hers were born dead so I’m giving her that one.” “I’d separated three lambs from their mother and released a psychopathic lamb thief into the group” All the…

NATIONAL federations have been working with governments to ensure equestrianism can be among the first sports to get going once lockdown is eased. Events at all levels and in all sports have been cancelled owing to the coronavirus pandemic, but British Equestrian and Horse Sport Ireland (HSI) are among the bodies that have been working with decision-makers on how events could be run when safe. A British Equestrian spokesman told H&H this is a complicated process as a number of stakeholders are involved. “We’re working on it,” she said. “We’ve been having constant dialogue with government via UK Sport and the Sport and Recreation Alliance throughout, so the process towards resumption has never really stopped.” The spokesman added that different British Equestrian member bodies have been working on individual plans…

JOHN HUME THE World War II veteran and senior master of the Cumbria Beagles died peacefully on 21 April, aged 97. Born in Keswick in 1922, Mr Hume was in his final year of school when he helped the Home Guard by taking overnight messages from the police station to the drill hall. He was later promoted to guard duty. He served in the Royal Tank Regiment in Egypt, India and Burma, and after the war returned to Keswick with his wife Ena. The Humes were married for nearly 70 years, until she died in 2016. After serving in the Army, Mr Hume held teaching posts in West Cumberland, later becoming the head teacher of Lazonby School. He retired in 1978. Mr Hume was a keen follower of the Blencathra…

▲ ARGUMENTS Forget cleaning tack and doing housework… if you’re bored during lockdown, simply post on Facebook asking whether people should be riding and having lessons at the moment – and then brace yourself… ▲ WEDDINGS Talking of lockdown, one hears of a wedding venue, with of course no current business, at which two horses got hitched. Apparently, the happy couple celebrated with Polos and carrots – but did they use a bridal path, one wonders? ▲ HOLLYWOOD STARS Actor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s pony Whiskey and donkey Lulu have been going viral (sorry) in a series of video clips. Surely there’s an opportunity here for an enterprising rug manufacturer? We can just see it: Masta la vista, baby……

REALISTICALLY now, unless they find a Covid-19 vaccine – which they’re saying is unlikely before next year – we’re looking at the possibility that we won’t see another international show, with crowds, until 2021. Even if we come out of lockdown this summer, training days followed by national day shows are likely to be the first stepping stones, long before the international circuit can start up again. There’s just no way we can justify a gathering of nations, all of whom are still at different stages of dealing with the virus, any time soon. But, trying to take the positives out of this situation, now would be the perfect time for British Showjumping to rejuvenate our national circuit. When we come out of this, far fewer people will be in…

ODDLY, the day I interviewed Jane Tuckwell was also the day I started taking the coronavirus seriously. It was late February – we wanted the interview sorted early before Badminton’s new director became frantically busy with the event’s final build-up – and BBC Radio 4 was non-stop Covid-19 as I drove through pelting rain to Gloucestershire. Dashing into the warm welcome of the office Jane shares with commercial director Andrew Tucker, it felt like the weather was more likely to kibosh this spring’s British five-star. But just three weeks later, the event became an inevitable casualty of the pandemic. Back in February, Jane said that cancellations are “the toughest times” of working at Badminton. On the phone six weeks later, she reflects on how this year differs to previous cancellations.…

JOHNNY KYLE, father of recently retired five-star competitor Mark and commentator John, was due to ride at the 1987 Badminton and, although he missed out on a proper ride round, he did pop over a couple of fences. Still slightly nervous of being told off over 30 years later, he recalls: “The forecast was stormy so we left early and arrived on the Sunday night. The Irish horses were the only ones there — myself, Eric Smiley and Jessie Harrington. “On the Tuesday, the Duke [of Beaufort] came into the yard and told us it was cancelled. “I went out to exercise my horse, The Grey Duke, and said I wouldn’t leave Badminton without jumping a fence, so I popped him over two plain fences. “The canteen was open so…

Stoney Crossing WHO came third to Arkle and Mill House in the 1965 Cheltenham Gold Cup? Bet you didn’t know it was the event horse Stoney Crossing (under saddle in the image). And what makes it trebly interesting is that the Australian thoroughbred finished sixth at Badminton a month later, having finished sixth in the Aintree Foxhunters’ in between. Ridden on all three occasions by the great Australian stockman Bill Roycroft, 100/1 shot Stoney Crossing finished 30 lengths behind the great pair. He fell at the Chair at Aintree, but was remounted to complete. Bill was 51 at the time, and Stoney Crossing was one of his three Badminton rides that year, along with Eldorado and Avatar. He was the first person to ride three horses round Badminton at the…

“WELCOME to Fen Bog” were the words that greeted me on a small sign, off a rutted track, in thick fog on the North Yorkshire Moors. A small gang of diehards had brought the Bedale hounds to the Saltersgate Farmers country for a joint-meet and the outlook was bleak. Twenty minutes later, other vehicles began to appear and my apprehension started to diminish, along with the gloom. After 40 minutes, the music of 26½ couple of hounds was echoing across Newtondale. This was the sound of two packs working together in perfect unity, to the enjoyment of hunting folk from different parts of Yorkshire. Hunts meeting together take two forms – the joint-meet, where hounds from both packs are generally combined, and the visiting day. Here another pack has the…

A BRAND NEW LOOK FOR FEDERATION THE British Equestrian Federation is now known as British Equestrian, as part of a rebranding project. The change includes a new logo, but the federation will retain the acronym BEF. This brings the organisation’s three brands: the BEF, which handles policy and governance; Equestrian Team GBR, including the World Class programme and senior championship teams; and Hoof, which encourages participation, under one banner. “This new identity helps create a unified and easily identifiable face to both the equestrian and non-equestrian public,” said British Equestrian interim CEO Iain Graham. DEADLY DISEASE KILLS HUNDREDS AN URGENT appeal has been made for help in containing an outbreak of African horse sickness (AHS) that has killed some 500 horses in Thailand. Siraya Chunekamrai, chair of the Lampang Pony…

Racing correspondent Cornelius Lysaght has left the BBC after nearly 30 years. Cornelius said his “BBC race is run” but added he is “most certainly” not retiring. Brooke’s chief executive Petra Ingram is leaving the charity after 11 years to take up the position of chief executive at HorseWorld. Petra will begin a “phased transition” this month. Dutch dressage rider Danielle van Mierlo suffered a broken leg in a freak accident loading her grand prix horse Dayano. Danielle said she has received the “sweetest” messages of support. Lanwades Stud owner Kirsten Rausing has made donations through her charity Alborada Trust amid the ongoing pandemic, including a grant of £200,000 to the Racing Foundation. H&H’s senior news writer Lucy Elder made it to the final 24 competitors of Racing Welfare’s Furlong…

IN THE NEWS COS I CAN The 17-year-old showjumper who represented Ireland in Nations Cups, including winning at Hickstead, under Shane Breen before moving to US rider Reed Kessler, has retired to live with his breeder John Griffin. COLBY SILVER SPRITE The Welsh section B gelding, produced by Sam Roberts, who won at the Royal International, was crowned best of breed at Olympia and was placed at HOYS has died aged 10 after a severe reaction to medication. UN DE SCEAUX The National Hunt star, who won 23 of 34 starts including 10 Grade Ones, has left Willie Mullins’ yard for retirement in France. The 12-year-old’s career highlights included Arkle, Tingle Creek and Ryanair Chase victories.…

GROOMING A 24-carat gold-plated “horse comb”, from the president of Slovenia, was one of the official gifts given to The Queen last year, according to a recently published list. Very nice – but would one be able to hold it in one’s teeth while plaiting? DONKEYS A heroic team of firefighters recently reported that they went to the rescue of Daniel, a donkey who got his foot stuck in a kettle. So very many questions. So very few answers. LONG-REINING Spotted at the yard, a mare thundering happily around the arena, a lunge rein trailing on either side, her owner helpless to do anything standing in the middle. “I thought I’d long-rein her to keep her exercised without riding,” the owner humphed. “I thought it would be nice and calm.”…

GIVEN the strange times we currently find ourselves in, I thought your readers might enjoy hearing about an event that happened while I was scoring at a British Horse Society horse trials at Aston Park Stud in Oxfordshire – then owned by Tony and Bernice Cuthbert. Great days. Our scoring team of four ladies was “housed” in a stable slightly off the main area. No matter, it was clean and we had plenty of room to work in. However, we noticed that our visitors were giggling and smirking as they came into the stable. This behaviour continued and we were at a loss as to why, until one kind person took us outside and showed us the sign above the stable door. It read: “Barren mares”, and I have no…

IT seems strange not to be talking to you about shows, judging and results. Instead, the pressure of shows seem to have faded into insignificance, and I am actually really enjoying my horses during this time. I’m sure I’m not alone in living in my own little world at home – it is a chance to escape from reality and some of the horrors that are unfolding outside my yard gates. No doubt the novelty of isolation will wear off eventually. In the coming months, we will start to miss the buzz of competing. But currently I am carrying on fairly normally day to day and I feel pretty calm and reflective. It has caused me to think about old stories and past experiences. My wife, Natalie, informs me that…

What was the last book you read? The Beekeeper’s Cottage by Emma Davies. It had loads of complex twists and storylines; I loved it. I don’t get the chance to read very often but I took this one with me on holiday to Tenerife. What are your favourite tunes for a road-trip? I usually have the radio on but if we go to a show the kids plug their iPhones in and we listen to all the chart music. It gets our spirits up. Which famous person would you invite to dinner? Robbie Williams; I’ve always been a big fan. If you weren’t a rider, you would be... I actually wanted to be a barrister when I was younger. I was due to go to law school but took a…

DAVID BROOME and Harvey Smith were my idols growing up. When I started competing at the bigger shows, they were at the top of the sport, so they certainly inspired me. They were both brilliant in different ways, so I used to watch and learn what I could from them – and many other top riders over the years such as Hugo Simon and Nelson Pessoa. Even now, sometimes when I’m riding I’ll think, “How would Hugo Simon solve that problem?” At a show one day, David advised me, “When you think you’ve done enough work on your horse, do another 10 minutes,” and I think about that tip quite often – never cut your work short. My parents, Enid and Donald, were hugely influential, too – they encouraged my…

NORMALLY, I write a column for H&H before Badminton attempting to use data – as yet unsuccessfully – to pick the winner. With Badminton cancelled this year, we are going to show how a “simulated Badminton” might play out. High-performance coaches, managers and analysts employ our EquiRatings simulation methods to predict the likely outcome of events and performances of particular riders, horses or teams. This allows managers to assess the chances of their team and can influence tactics, selection and training. With no live events, this year we have started to use our predictive technology, developed in partnership with SAP, for fan experiences, as well as launching the Eventing Manager app to let followers play along. HOW IT WORKS WITH no Badminton 2020 field to work with, we are making…

Foxhounds SCOTLAND TREVOR ADAMS, who was joint-master and huntsman of the Duke of Buccleuch’s for 25 years until his retirement in 2014, has returned to the fray as joint-master and huntsman of the Jed Forest, following Lee Peters’ departure for Northern Ireland. Jamie Scott is Trevor’s joint-master. Pam Over joins the Buccleuch mastership and James Agnew is now part of the team at the Berwickshire. NORTH OF ENGLAND THERE’S a new team at the Derwent, following Steven and Lucinda Ashworth’s departure to the Cheshire, where he will hunt hounds and she will whip-in. Damian Readman becomes joint-master and huntsman of the Derwent and Mark Hamilton, Edward Hardwick and Michael Morley join him in the mastership. Laura de Wesselow, whose family home is the site for Belsay Horse Trials, becomes a…

“HE was a brilliant jockey and very tough, he never gave up on a horse. He was a fierce competitor and we had many great seasons riding together – I have fond memories that bring a smile to my face. “In any sport, to be champion for two decades is just incredible. He was also a much-liked jockey – you’d be hard pushed to find anyone with bad words about him. “He was the person I used to go to for advice; we were on the same wavelength and I found him easy to chat to. Of course, my riding career benefited hugely when he retired and I was able to become champion jockey.”…

“WATCHING AP in the saddle, what always stood out for me was the complete confidence he had in himself that he could win any race on any horse. Sometimes I convince myself that, whatever horse I’m riding, I can win and when I don’t, I beat myself up about it – I can relate to AP in that way. “He impressed me with how focused he was during his career and he’s impressed me after his retirement, anybody who can hold it together after retiring from a career they love has my utter respect. His strength of character has been inspirational.”…

SYNCHRONISED (pictured) – AP won the 2012 Cheltenham Gold Cup on the Jonjo O’Neilltrained gelding, who was owned by JP McManus. The pair then contested the Grand National a month later. They fell at the sixth fence. However, the nine-year-old got up and ran on loose before being fatally injured. “Synchronised was particularly special to me because I actually won on his dam, Mayasta, at Punchestown in 1996. She was also owned by JP and it was back when I was getting going as a jump jockey,” says AP. “So winning the Gold Cup on him was sentimental and he provided me with one of my best days in the saddle. Losing him in the Grand National that year was tragic.”…

“I WAS his agent from day one and we spent two brilliant decades working together. It was my job to get him on the quantity of horses that would help him remain champion. The late trainer Toby Balding had sent me a videotape of him riding in Ireland and you could just see that he was way above average for a young jockey. He just had a knack of getting horses to win who shouldn’t have done. He had the right attitude and mental strength; he was just obsessed with winning. “Looking back, there were more highs than lows and we never had a cross word between us, he was the ultimate professional. We didn’t see that much of each other – it was all done over the phone –…