Red lights and standing on top hats: 11 competition day superstitions
Competition day superstitions aren’t uncommon. Serena Williams doesn’t change her socks once during a tennis tournament, Christiano Ronaldo likes to stare at himself in the mirror and Rafa Nadal has to pull his shorts from his bottom, pluck at his t-shirt shoulders then wipe his face before every serve.
Some of the world’s top equestrians are a little superstitious too — Laura Tomlinson likes to wear the same pair of pearl earrings while competing and Piggy French always feeds four leaf clovers to her horses and then makes a wish.
Here are some of your superstitions to add to the list…
Alli Lawson
“I wear odd socks and I have to have a plaited bit of hair from my old horse in my jodhpur pocket too.”
Emma Cruickshank
“I show and once I’ve won or done well at a stay away show, I won’t change my shirt or tie all week. You can imagine the state of it by the end of the five days!”
Gemma Shanks
“If I hit more than three red lights en-route to the venue it’s an omen and I have to head home!”
Sally Galloway
“One magpie — not good!”
Lucy Jones
“I wear odd socks and I never have 13 plaits down the crest of a horse’s neck either.”
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Gemma Smith
“I always have to put on left-handed things before the right — so the left sock first, left riding boot and so on.”
Continued below…
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Georgie Christy
“I was once told that if a strap of a horse’s bridle is out of its keeper, you will fall off. If there are two straps out of keepers, you will fall off twice.”
Megan Hunt
“I like to stamp on things if they are brand new before I use them in competition. The most difficult occasion I had to do this was when I bought a new top hat for an event. My mother and friend had to lift me up so I could gently tap my feet on the top of the hat before I would put it on!”
Do you have any superstitions for competition day? Let us know below…
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Gemma is an experienced journalist, who was a member of H&H staff from 2014 to September 2025. She is passionate about all equestrian sports, including racing and point-to-pointing. She has enjoyed riding out for top trainers Nicky Henderson and Charlie Appleby and took part in a charity Flat race at Epsom in August 2018. Gemma’s has reported from numerous five-star events around Britain and Europe, as well as European championships.