Hedge-hopping showjumpers, following in Red Rum’s footsteps and other things the horse world is talking about

Off-piste showjumpers

The best riders show their class in any sphere and Olympic showjumper Holly Smith did just that at the weekend. The European team bronze medallist and six-year-old Gold De Riverland came third in the Equestrian Notice Board Golden Button Challenge, winning the awards for the highest-placed lady rider and non-thoroughbred horse. Holly said the six-year-old, who was bred and bought to showjump, was a “real rogue” as a three-, four- and five-year-old, so “we decided to hunt him all winter and make a man of him in the proper, old-fashioned way”.

Find out what Holly thought of the race

Bidding for a Red Rum record?

The weights for the 2022 Randox Health Grand National have been revealed — and double winner Tiger Roll is among them, although it looks currently unlikely he will line up to attempt to equal Red Rum’s record of three wins in the Aintree showpiece. The 2018 and 2019 winner, trained by Gordon Elliott, has been given a rating of 161 and a weight of 11st 4lb, the same as 2021 winner Minella Times, which has not pleased his owner Michael O’Leary.

Find out who got top weight — and about a Fox-Pitt horse in the running

Cover stars

Showjumper Harry Charles and his Tokyo Olympic ride Romeo 88 are the current H&H cover stars, and you can find out a bit more about them. Harry, 22, has four top rides who could be potential contenders for the showjumping World Championships in Herning this summer. But if he had to pick one now, Harry says it would be Romeo 88, his partner on his senior championship debut.

Read more about the young rider and his star partner

You might also be interested in:

‘A real buzz’: Olympic showjumper takes two Golden Buttons in first hunt race

‘We are certainly not finished yet’: Tiger Roll could bid to make history as Grand National weights are revealed

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Eleanor Jones

H&H news editor

Eleanor is an experienced journalist who spent over eight years working for local and national newspapers before joining H&H as news editor in March 2016. Passionate about equine welfare and exposing the truth, Eleanor has reported on all aspects of the industry, from Brexit to anti-bullying campaigns, and from dressage rules to mules. Her sport of choice is showjumping, in which she competes her own horses, and she also enjoys reporting at local jumping shows through to international championships.