There are not many horses and riders who could jump the famous Hickstead planks with no bridle – but Silver Lift and Harriet Biddick did just that today in the British Speed Derby.
The 18-year-old gelding and Harriet were showing why they are the most successful combination in the class’s history, with three wins under their belt and challenging for a fourth, flying round the course they are so familiar with – when Silver Lift’s forelegs appeared to slip very slightly on top of the Irish bank.
They landed and carried on over the triple of Hickstead planks, just tipping one, and the crowd was starting to roar them home, they might still just do it – but then Harriet lifted her hands, one of which held the bridle, while her horse’s head was bare. It had somehow come off entirely between the bank and the triple.
“The bridle came off his head; I had the throat lash in my hand,” Harriet said. “I don’t know how it happened.”
Harriet said she realised the bridle had gone but the superstar pair jumped through the triple anyway, the penultimate fence, and for a moment it looked as if they might also clear the last oxer, but Silver Lift cantered past on the left side.
“I was going ‘Go right, go right!’” Harriet said. “He’s the only horse I would trust [to do that].”
But it was not to be and the pair completed a circuit of the International Arena before Silver Lift pulled up by the tunnel, Harriet with superb horsemanship sticking all the way.
“He’s such a good horse,” Harriet said.
The class went to speed Derby first-timers Ella Dalton and Quality Rubies N Diamonds.
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‘I can’t believe it’: young rider and ‘free’ horse take speed Derby win on debut
Horse and rider become the most successful Hickstead speed derby combination in history
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