Rachel Proudley claimed her sixth consecutive major puissance victory in the UK when she shared the spoils with three other riders in the Equiyd puissance at Bolesworth International on Saturday night (27 June).
Rachel won all five of her previous titles with her established performer Easy Boy De Laubry Z, but brought forward a new ride to tackle the bricks — Niall Mullins’ 11-year-old French Connection, who was making his puissance debut.
She split victory with Morgan Shirley, jumping her first Bolesworth puissance with nine-year-old mare Klaris Ride On, Paul Sims with nine-year-old Marshmallow and David Simpson with Kolman VDP.
The four combinations who cleared 1.95m in the fourth round of the Bolesworth puissance all lowered bricks in the fifth and final round , where the wall loomed at 2.10m (6’9”), to split the £6,700 winners’ pot.
“I started riding him two or three months ago,” said Rachel, who turns 21 in July. “He jumped the 1.50m here on Friday and then we thought we might try him in the puissance. He’s never jumped it before on his life, he had no practice or test run, that was his first ever go. We only decided to enter him today.”
The combination arguably jumped it the best of those in the final round, just nudging out a couple of bricks in front.
“To be fair, he was very unlucky not to clear it. It felt easy to him and I was very pleased with him,” she said.
Rachel, who is based in Yorkshire as a rider for Richard Howley, has firmly honed the knack for jumping the big wall. She took her first win at London International with Easy Boy De Laubry Z in 2024, going on to win at Bolesworth last year, followed by Dublin — where she broke a 61-year-old record — then Horse of the Year Show (HOYS), and London again.
“I think it is about keeping your cool!” said Rachel, who makes the towering bricks look like a normal fence. “I just try and keep it the same in every round and not go to early or too quick.”
With entries originally a little thin, the decision was made to start the wall lower than usual in the first round, at just 1.35m. This helped bump at the start list to 11 hopefuls, with several first timers, including Morgan Shirley, encouraged into the mix.
Hickstead Derby horses tackle Bolesworth puissance
Morgan, along with David Simpson, was one of two riders to be jumping their Hickstead Derby horses from last week in the class.
“It was surreal, it was 100% not on my radar at the start of the year that I’d be jumping the Derby and then a puissance,” said Morgan, who has a special relationship with the Brendon Stud’s mare, who she backed.
“I said to Shirley [Light] ‘I can’t see over it, I don’t know what to look at’ and she said ‘Just look at the top!’”
“‘Kali’ gave me a lot of confidence. She’s always been so willing and so kind, I feel like I could jump the moon on her. It’s been a whirlwind week.”
Last year, Shirley decided to keep Kali, who is by Don VHP Z out of her 1.60m mare Sussex Caretino, to be her hunter and team chaser, after she failed the vet.
“She has her mum’s guts and spirit and that extra bit of scope from her father,” Shirley said.
“We heard they were a bit short of entries for the puissance and were starting low, so I said to Morgan ‘This is our chance’.”
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The Horse & Hound Podcast 172: Rachel Proudley, young rider European champion and puissance star
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