‘I just aimed to breed a nice horse’: breeder’s delight as first home-bred is champion at HOYS
(Image credit: 1st Class Images)
The connections of a home-bred horse were delighted as he scored the Honourable Stud intermediate show riding type of the year championship at the Horse of the Year Show (HOYS).
The intermediate show riding type championship was arguably one of the most hotly contested of the show as it combined both large and small contenders for the first time, and finalists had been required to stand champion of the intermediate section in order to qualify at respective shows held throughout the season.
Judges Louise Windsor (conformation) and Anthony Perkins (show) selected Danni Radford’s Tiger Attack seven-year-old Ladies Man, ridden by Poppy Carter, as their champion. The small section contender won his class here in 2022, too.
“George” — supreme intermediate at the 2022 Royal International Horse Show — was Danni’s first home-bred. He is out of Looking Glass Image, a hack mare who Danni didn’t show much as she was ‘quirky’.
“He’s one in a million,” said Danni, who gave birth to her first daughter during this summer. “We were saying outside of the ring that a place would have been incredible, and we never expected him to win such a strong class.
“We were late getting going this season due to the baby, but George also managed to qualify for HOYS in the hacks this year. It’s been hard work juggling motherhood and showing, and my nerves are shot! I was a quivering wreck coming down to the ring.
“George has improved year on year. He’s always been a super, genuine horse and he’s loved the job from day one. Plus, he loves Poppy to bits. They are a match made in heaven. I just aimed to breed a nice horse for myself, and never in a million years did I think he’d achieve what he has done.”
Second was Zara Brookes riding her own Parkgate Royal Visit William.
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