‘Never underestimate the importance of a venue,’ says Tim Gredley
Nations Cup-winning rider Tim Gredley reflects on Hickstead past and present
Newmarket-based international showjumper Tim Gredley is a British team regular, having competed at world and European championships and he was part of the Nations Cup-winning team at Hickstead in July 2026.
Hickstead is where showjumping began for me. I first came when I was 12 or 13, and won the 13hh working hunter ponies, and have had the bug ever since.
I remember watching John Whitaker and Nick Skelton warming up and thinking, “That’s what I want to do”, and I always think if that happened to me, it will happen to someone else.
I absolutely love the tradition of it too. The Bunns understand the importance of the venue, and not only do they keep improving it, they keep up with prize money and facilities.
There was some uncertainty when they lost the Longines sponsorship, but having that freedom has made the event even better, with title sponsor Agria coming on board, and getting individual spots; such as Unex sponsoring the speed classic.
The world number one rider, Kent Farrington, was in action this year, with an as good, if not better, field than you’ll find in a Longines League of Nations. It’s testament to the venue that riders like Marcus Ehning want to return every year, and I think that will continue for generations. I always make trying to get picked for Hickstead my priority.
“It was brilliant to pull it off”
People ask what’s the most important competition in the sport now when there is the Global Champions Tour, the Rolex and Longines grands prix and the Nations Cups. Unless you’re fortunate to have a big string of horses, you have to back one and for me, the Nations Cups take precedence.
It’s the format I really enjoy, although I probably wouldn’t say it at the time. The Nations Cups have been around for ever, and they’re so easy to understand. As long as we stay strict with ourselves and don’t change too much, I think they will stay that way.
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My good friend Conor Swail and I jumped the only double clears in this year’s Agria Nations Cup at Hickstead. He’s another rider I’ve always looked up to, so to be up there with him at this level was brilliant. But I keep going back to the history and significance of Hickstead, and this is always the week I work towards, so it was brilliant to pull it off.
Medoc De Toxandria is a very sensitive horse and you have to do everything on his terms. He’s 14, and he’s never felt better. It’s taken me a long time to get him into a system that works for us but I wasn’t surprised he produced that in the Nations Cup.
I went in with a lot of confidence, whereas maybe in the past two years, I had some uncertainty and never rode well enough. Now I feel we’re in a good partnership, and I rode as I should have, and as he deserves.
Let’s hang on to equine talent
In terms of the sport overall I was fortunate to have a long chat with CEO of British Showjumping (BS), Iain Graham, recently. It’s not as simple as I thought, and I take my hat off to him. The situation is not as black and white as everybody thinks, and there’s logic behind what’s going on. He agrees it’s not perfect, but BS has only a certain amount of control.
We could all throw our arms in the air and say this and that but I don’t think we really are in much trouble. We’ve had four golds from the past four Olympics and you can’t argue with that. I think we just accept what we are at the moment, and what we’re becoming is a top producer of young horses.
It takes time to evolve but buying young horses and producing them is what Britain is becoming known for. We just have to be able to hold on to them, or get a top British rider to buy them, so we can see the benefit.
Ideally, we would try to get some kind of syndication, as in the Netherlands, to keep top horses in this country. If you had a pot for 10 British-bred horses to go to the top 10 riders, it would be a massive benefit.
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Jennifer is passionate at showjumping and her role as H&H’s showjumping editor has taken her around the world reporting from shows and interviewing riders, connections and those involved behind the scenes. Since joining H&H from BBC Sport in 2005, she has written on every subject across the equestrian sphere — from turnout rugs to stable management — and has interviewed gold medallists, world champions and winners galore. She also has first-hand experience of working in the equestrian industry as a riding instructor and yard manager.