The first day of Horse of the Year Show (HOYS) ended in a dramatic climax with two riders sharing the spoils in the Addington Equestrian 2019 Ltd talent seekers championship title, incorporating the Brightwells seven-year-old championship.
Jay Halim and Tim Davies secured a joint win in a time of 31.23 seconds in a blistering final round yesterday evening (2 October).
Jay set the time with eight-year-old Aragon Z, owned by Duncan Arthurs, while Tim was last to go with eight-year-old chestnut gelding Lionel Van De Markieslanden, owned by Barrett Watson.
“I grew up admiring Tim and watching him compete, so it is a real honour to share this win with him today,” said Jay.
“Aragon is a special horse and really deserves this win. I unintentionally had an extra stride down the double so I was concerned I had left it open for someone to come in and beat me.
“I was second in this class a few years ago and I thought that the same was going to happen, but thankfully I kept my lead. It’s a childhood dream to win at HOYS so I can finally tick that box and look ahead to what’s next.”
(Image credit: creditUnknown)
Tim echoed Jay’s words, and said it was an honour to share the win.
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“I watched his round and noted his time,” he said. “My horse is quick but when I looked up at the clock I knew straight away that we’d drawn.
“He’s the perfect person to share it with and I’m really pleased for him. I jumped the horse here last year and he was very careful, you just never quite know how they are going to react in the arena.
“I’ve had [Lionel] since he was four years old and he was a tricky horse but I knew he’d come good. To come here and win with him is just incredible.”
The Brightwells seven-year-old championship went to Green Grass, ridden and owned by Northallerton’s Paul Barker.
Overall the combination came third in the class with a time of 31.36.
For the full report on all the action at HOYS, don’t miss Horse & Hound magazine, on sale Thursday, 10 October.
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Rachael joined Horse & Hound in 2014, initially as a digital sub editor then became part of the news team as a writer in 2015. The philosophy graduate studied journalism at the Press Association before working as a local reporter at the Brentwood Gazette. Rachael is now a mum of two and still loves all things equestrian, including hacking, dressage and jumping with her cob Bert. Rachael left the H&H staff to go freelance in June 2019, but still contributes to our magazine and website, as well as our sister magazine Country Life, among others.
