The Shetland Pony Grand National: if only we were small enough to take part…

Madeleine Silver's avatar
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Published In Features
Royal Windor Horse Show accommodation
(Image credit: Alamy Stock Photo)

Even the darkest of moods can be remedied with the sight of the Shetland Pony Grand National. Pint-sized ponies thundering over pint-sized fences with equally pint-sized jockeys — “all good things come in small packages” has never rung so true.

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The only race where the participants could duck under the railings?
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The only race where the participants could duck under the railings?

Standing at a maximum of 42 inches, there's not a huge amount of space between a Shetland's tummy and the turf

Not your average racecourse backdrop…
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Not your average racecourse backdrop…

The Shetland Pony Grand National takes places at the CLA Game Fair at Blenheim Palace in 2014

The main attraction
(Image credit: Peter Nixon)

The main attraction

They may be small, but the crowds go wild for the Shetland Pony Grand National, pictured here at the Liverpool International Horse Show in 2016

Fit for a Queen
(Image credit: David Miller)

Fit for a Queen

In the spotlight
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In the spotlight

Blink and you miss them
(Image credit: David Miller)

Blink and you miss them

Shetlands may be small, but don't underestimate their speed (or the determination of their jockeys)

Here come the girls (and boys)
(Image credit: David Miller)

Here come the girls (and boys)

Jockeys are aged between 8 and 13 years old and have to be under five foot in height

Stars of the future
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Stars of the future

Some of the country's top jockeys started their racing career on Shetlands — including Sam and Willy Twiston-Davies and Jim Crowley. Next month Frankie Dettori's son Rocco will be in action in the Shetland Pony Grand National at the National Heritage Centre for Horseracing & Sporting Art at Palace House, Newmarket

All in the name of a good cause
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All in the name of a good cause

Each year the Shetland Pony Grand National raises money for a nominated charity. This year is in aid of the Bob Champion Cancer Trust

Tough competition
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Tough competition

Riding a Shetland on its own and racing alongside others are very different experiences, and so participants attend a training day to get them up to scratch

The big finale Shetland Pony Grand National
(Image credit: Trevor Meeks)

The big finale Shetland Pony Grand National

Madeleine Silver
Madeleine Silver
Former features editor

A graduate from Durham University, Madeleine joined H&H in 2011 and became Features Editor — producing content across the magazine and website, including the popular inside back cover article ‘The horse that made me’ and the weekly ‘The best of my fun…’ interview. She has written on topics as diverse as hay making and headcams, to hot totty in the horse world and circus horses. Madeleine now works as a freelance feature writer for Country Life, The Telegraph, Horse & Hound, cntraveller.com, The Spectator and The Field, as well as writing obituaries for The Times.