‘You couldn’t write it!” Construction boss and eventer in showjumping dead heat at Hickstead
The two combinations stopped the clock in exactly the same time in the International Arena
There was a dead heat in the Stoner Jewellers 1.20m championship at the All England September Tour at Hickstead (6 September), as both Ian Foster (Cuba Blue) and Ed Eltham (Ibrina HBC) stopped the clock on 38.65sec.
Ian and his own gelding had held the lead from second of 13 in the jump-off, with a smooth and speedy round showing the 11-year-old’s effortless acceleration. But second-last in was Ed, with Fred Marshall’s 13-year-old, a nippy little mare with a huge jump and a ground-covering stride enough to equal the leading time.
“It’s hard to believe it was exactly the same time; you couldn’t write it!” Ed said, adding that he hadn’t taken a stride out between seven and eight as Ian did, but did manage to to the last, which Ian hadn’t.
Ian said he knew he had to “give it a good go”, with this horse he took on a couple of years ago when he had only jumped 1m classes.
“He’s sharp but he’s come on really nicely and settled,” he said. “He’s got lots of jump, a really nice horse who’s ready to step up.”
This was a first International Arena win for Ian, who runs a construction company, as it was for Ed, who also came third with Uruguay AS Z; both horses are owned by Fred Marshall.
“They’re both really quick mares,” he said. “We’ve had [Ibrina] since she was seven and she’s always been great but never quite had the big win. She was second at the nationals and in the winter silver league final, so I’m really pleased for her, and Fred to win, and to do it here is amazing. She’s such a kind horse, like a Labrador at home and she’s tiny, barely 15.2hh, but when she goes in the ring, she’s a machine.”
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Ed heads to Blenheim Palace International Horse Trials next, so will miss the second week of the tour but Ian is coming back, having “gone one better” than his joint win by taking the 1.30m championship with Rosalind Platt’s Sanda Cruz Oseveld.
Ian and the eight-year-old gelding blazed their trail round the arena, accelerating from start to finish, taking a stride out to the central vertical and triumphing by nearly a second.
“It feels amazing, especially after the 1.20m,” he said. “The horse tried his heart out, and it was good to win properly – and go one better!
“I thought just get stuck in and get a gallop that would be hard to beat. He’s a lovely horse; brave, adaptable and rideable, and he loves his job.”
Read the full report from both weeks of the tour in H&H on 10 and 17 September.
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Eleanor is an experienced journalist who spent over eight years working for local and national newspapers before joining H&H as news editor in March 2016. Passionate about equine welfare and exposing the truth, Eleanor has reported on all aspects of the industry, from Brexit to anti-bullying campaigns, and from dressage rules to mules. Her sport of choice is showjumping, in which she competes her own horses, and she also enjoys reporting at local jumping shows through to international championships.