Racing Shetlands to appear on TV ahead of Olympia
Racing Shetlands and their riders will be making a TV appearance tomorrow (Saturday 12 December) to promote the Shetland Grand National at Olympia.
Mike Bushell from BBC Breakfast met with six riders and their trusty steeds for filming recently.
The piece will be aired between 6am-10am on Saturday, ahead of the London International Horse Show, which kicks off on Tuesday (15 December).
The six combinations that will appear in the programme are Syd Macaulay on Solar, Connor Fletcher on Daisey May, Eve Bacon on Bees Nees, Talia Aristidou on Endeavour, Darcy Sanders on Sovereign and Kinvara Garner on Blue.
All riders and ponies went to Bury Farm Equestrian Village, near Leighton Buzzard, on 24 November to show the BBC what the Shetland Grand National is all about.
“A mixture of experienced Olympia riders, and a number of newcomers were on hand with their ponies to explain the event, how they qualified and what they are most looking forward to,” said a spokesman for Olympia.
“It also included a training session, a practice race and more importantly involved Mike getting dressed up in his racing silks and joining in on foot.”
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Meanwhile Olympia’s mascot — a foal named Pinglewood Noris (pictured below)— will be heading to the Jeremy Vine Show on Radio 2 on Monday 14 December.
The foal, alongside Seb Garner and Vera Akehurst who co-run the Shetland Grand National, and trainer Joe Akehurst will also be attending the radio show.
The Radio 2 show will be on between 12:30 – 1pm and there will be a webcam set up to watch it as well as listen.
The Shetland pony Grand National is a highlight of Olympia. Jockeys must be between nine and 14 years old and previous riders in the race include top National Hunt jockey Sam Twiston-Davies.
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A graduate of Exeter University, Amy joined our news team from Redpin Publishing in 2008 as news writer. She was promoted to deputy news editor in May 2013 and became news editor in April 2015. She left Horse & Hound in March 2016 to take up an editorial position in Dubai.