‘No shortcuts, and lots of purple shampoo’: Paige Watson on winning Burghley’s £1,000 groom’s prize with Deerpairc Revelry
“2am starts and 10pm finishes” are all part of the job – Paige Watson on what it took to win Burghley’s Spillers groom’s prize
Paige Watson, groom to Max Warburton’s Deerpairc Revelry, has won this year’s Spillers groom’s prize at the 2026 Defender Burghley Horse Trials – and a £1,000 cheque to go with it.
“Technically it’s £1,100,” Paige corrects, laughing. “You get an extra £100 if your horse starts cross-country as well.”
Asked how she’ll spend it, she adds: “I’ll probably do something sensible, like pay off a credit card. That’s the adult move, isn’t it? Sorry, boring. I should go on a big spending spree!”
Purple shampoo and no shortcuts
Ask Paige her secret on keeping Deerpairc Revelry’s striking grey coat so clean and there’s no hesitation. “Purple shampoo is my best friend – I have a five-litre drum of it, just for him.
“He gets a bath probably twice a day when he’s here. At home, he’s actually really dirty, but at a show he keeps himself quite clean.
“But as a groom, there are no shortcuts. Don’t ever think there’s an easy way to do something, or that it’d be quicker if you skipped a bit. That’s when you get caught out.
“You just have to be on it all the time and do everything as best you can. That’s all that matters. That and baby oil – I love baby oil.”
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She was presented with the award after this morning’s (7 September) pre-showjumping trot-up, for which she had an early start. “I started at about half five this morning – it’s a lot of icing, walking about, making sure they look okay,” she explains.
“The priority is that they’re sound and ready for the trot-up, and then you can start to titivate, get them clean, do all that. Quick bath, plait him, and it’s an hour and a half, maybe – not too bad.”
Deerpairc Revelry – as so often seems to be the case with greys – doesn’t always cooperate once he’s presentable. “He’s already rolled in his rug this morning – covered in shavings. He’ll have to have another bath. I’ve just accepted now that he has a bath in the morning and one at lunchtime.”
A six-year partnership, and a horse with character
Paige has groomed for Max Warburton for six years, part of a grooming career now stretching back around a decade. “Before Max, I worked for Matt Heath and Ben Hobday,” she says. “I worked at a tack shop, and I was a hunt groom for a while too – but nothing non-horsey.”
Horses have been a constant since childhood. “I’ve had them since I was about five. Always horses. Nothing else has ever really interested me.”
Deerpairc Revelry, she says, is full of contradictions. “He’s a funny character – quite quirky, can be a bit of a handful. He gets very lit up by clapping, especially anything behind him, so he’s a bit worried about that.
“But he’s very easy in a lot of senses too. Apart from digging holes in his stable, he’s a really lovely boy. I’m just very lucky to have a horse like him, taking me to cool places like this.”
For all the glamour of a Burghley week, cross-country day itself sounds like something to be endured rather than enjoyed. “Sick. Very sick,” Paige says of how she feels watching Deerpairc Revelry go round – the 12-year-old stallion went clear with 14.8 time-faults.
“It's very non-verbal in the stables on a Saturday morning – not a lot of talking. You want them to do well, but first and foremost, you just want them to come home. You spend day in, day out with these horses, and regardless of the result, you just want them safe and sound.”
Recognition, and advice for the next generation
The prize itself means something beyond the money, Paige says. “It's nicer just for the recognition, I think. We’re behind the scenes most of the time – the horses turn up, the riders are sat on their backs doing all the hard work, and we’re just there in the background.
“I definitely don’t expect £1,000 prizes all the time! I don’t think any groom really goes to a show expecting it. We don’t do it for the money. We do it for the love of the horses we look after.
“If you’re lucky enough to come to places like this, it’s a privilege – you never get bored of it.”
She’s honest about the less romantic side of the job too. “You might think you’re just picking up poo every day – day in, day out. But there comes a point where you think, actually, maybe it was worth all the 2am starts and 10pm finishes. Then you feel quite lucky.”
Despite the long hours and the nerves watching her charges compete, she adds that she wouldn’t choose anything else: “I don't think there’s any other career for me.”
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Oscar joined Horse & Hound in October 2023 and is the magazine’s dressage editor and sports manager, overseeing coverage of equestrian sport. After studying equine science at Myerscough College, he spent four years working for leading dressage rider Emile Faurie, competing at the 2015 National Dressage Championships and travelling with the yard to CDIs including Aachen and Saumur. He holds a master’s degree in Literature from York St John University (2021).