Over the 12 days of Christmas this festive season, we are shining a light on up-and-coming talent across the disciplines. These are people you really need to keep an eye out for in 2019...
Harry Charles is one of showjumping’s most exciting young talents and 2018 certainly was a year to remember from the Hampshire-based 19-year-old — and we fully expect 2019 to be even better. Here are nine things you need to know about the brilliant young rider…
1. He turned 19 on the day he won individual gold at the European young rider championships in France this year
2. Harry is currently ranked 150th in the world
3. The teenager already has six championship medals to his name — he won junior team bronze and individual silver in 2015, he claimed team and individual silver in 2017 on Vivaldi Du Dom, then in 2018 he achieved the golden double, to reign as European team and individual young rider champion, again on Vivaldi
4. His father is 2012 Olympic team gold medallist Peter Charles and his younger sisters Sienna and Scarlett are both keen showjumpers, too. The family live in Hampshire
5. In 2016, aged 16, he won the Welsh Masters, beating his father Peter into second place — no mean feat! Harry again gained the upper hand in Spain at the start of this year when winning his first four-star grand prix
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6. Harry made his Global Champions Tour debut this year, in the London leg of the prestigious series. He made it through to the grand-prix jump-off, where he was competing against some of the best riders in the world. “I pretended it was like any other class but in the back of my mind I was going in to a jump-off against Ludger Beerbaum and Scott Brash!” he said. With just one fence down, he and ABC Quantum Cruise finished a very creditable sixth
7. Harry and his father are both Liverpool supporters, where Peter was born and raised
8. He made his first appearance on a five-star Nations Cup team in Spain at the end of the 2018 season, where he not only acted as anchorman, but he also delivered two exceptional clear rounds for his country
9. His motto is “There are no limits except those which one sets oneself!”
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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.
