Hugely exciting eight-year-old stallion Mecoblue PS (Nicole Lockhead Anderson) posted a coming-of-age victory in Royal Windsor Horse Show’s LeMieux national 1.40m on the opening day of showjumping.
In a competitive 47-starter single-phase competition held in Windsor’s Castle Arena, Nicole and the striking son of Messenger blitzed a high-octane time set by Ronnie Jones with his prolific winner Kaleche, a daring stride out to the final oxer helping to put them nearly 1sec into an unassailable lead.
“He’s amazing and just gets better and better,” said Nicole. “He’s never been in an environment like this and he seemed to cope with it really well. He jumped super. I didn’t see Ronnie Jones’s round but I knew he’d be fast and I just trusted Mecoblue and he delivered.
“He has a massive stride and he’s really, really careful and luckily he trusted me to pick up at the final fence because we were quite a long way off!” she added.
“He’s a really good horse and I’m so lucky to ride him. Tom and Jess Williams from TW Stables give me some amazing opportunities.
Mecoblue: stepping up impressively
“Mecoblue stepped up in Spain to jump a few bigger classes,” explained Nicole. “He’s actually quite green, but he keeps stepping up and he finds jumping big fences very very easy.
“I think he’s definitely one for the top of the sport. He gives you the feeling he could be here at Royal Windsor in the five-star next year as a nine-year-old. I have very high hopes for this horse. He’s always been very talented, he’s a bit special, he’s unique in himself, I think all the good ones are.
“He’s a cheeky monkey, I think he knows he’s good.”
Tom Williams bought Mecoblue PS, who is out of a Chacco-Blue mare, at a Schockemohle online auction as an unbroken four-year-old.
“He looked a really scopey, careful jumper but the plan was always to keep him a bit long term,” said Tom. “He was a bit slow at the start but he’s really got going this past year and he’s competitive now, jumping a few 1.50ms.”
Mecoblue PS contested the seven-year-old WBFSH world breeding championships last year and has posted plenty of eye-catching results along a slow and steady production process, which Tom says has been the making of him.
“The jumps can’t get too big for him, he’s a really nice horse,” he said.
Nicole Lockhead Anderson: “We’re very lucky in Britain to have a show like Royal Windsor”
Nicole was thrilled to post a win on day one of Royal Windsor, a show she’s enjoyed plenty of success at in the past.
“It’s great to be here at Royal Windsor, it’s such an amazing show, so to win here makes it even more special,” she said. “We’re very lucky in Britain to have a show like Royal Windsor.”
Taking third behind Nicole and runners-up Ronnie Jones and Kaleche was Lottie Tutt riding Billy Olga, with both Ben Maher and Joe Stockdale catching the eye with their rising star eight-year-olds Nighthawk and Laska JDV respectively, to finish in the top 10.
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