Mon dieu! Fromage Frais! If you happen to be driving round the streets of Warwickshire, keep a look out for a three-wheeled yellow vision as showjumper Nick “Del Boy” Skelton hurtles along in his lovely jubbly new set of wheels.
Nick’s sons, National Hunt trainer Dan and jockey Harry surprised their dad at Christmas with the ultimate present for the country’s biggest fan of TV sitcom Only Fools and Horses — a vintage three-wheel Reliant Robin, complete with a blow-up doll in the back seat and a set of furry dice hanging from the rearview mirror.
“I’m a big fan of Only Fools and Horses – that’s all I watch on TV. I think I could turn the volume down and repeat every word!” said Nick, now happily masquerading as part of Trotters Independent Trading Co (New York-Paris-Peckham).
“So I was gobsmacked when the ‘yellow peril’ turned up on Christmas day. I took her for a drive and everybody was flashing their lights and hooting their horns at me, it was hysterical!”
But Nick Skelton wasn’t the only rider to receive a slightly quirky gift this Christmas.
Four-star eventers Hannah Bate and Paul Sims, from Shropshire, were given his and hers onesies in their cross-country colours — complete with their numbers from Burghley 2014 — as a gift from Katie Sims.
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Meanwhile, Oxfordshire-based eventer Lucy Jackson, who represented her native New Zealand at the World Equestrian Games in 2014, will be bombing round horse trials this year on her new monkey bike. “The Big Red”, as her new mode of transport has been christened, was a gift from Lucy’s boyfriend Harry Wallace.
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“The pressie to beat all pressies,” said Lucy, 36, adding that she was “ready to blitz the 2015 circuit”.
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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.
