Among the intrepid riders taking on the challenge of the Al Shira’aa Hickstead Derby for the first time this year is one very familiar name – just in a different context – Olympic eventer Gemma Stevens (neė Tattersall).
The British rider, who won team gold at the 2018 world championships and represented her country at the 2016 Olympics, has become a familiar face in the showjumping ring in recent years, while still combining it with top-level eventing, but this will be her first time bidding to compete in Hickstead’s iconic feature class on Sunday, 25 June. She describes the prospect as “terrifying but very cool”.
“I 100% didn’t think I would be competing in the Hickstead Derby for at least another 10 years,” Gemma told H&H.
“I watched it with my husband Gary last year, when it was wonderful to see Shane win after all these years of trying, and I said to him ‘One day I’d love to have a go’… One day! I definitely wasn’t expecting that next year I’d be doing it!”
The decision was made after Gemma received a phone call from Shirley Light from the Brendon Stud, who owns 10-year-old stallion Envoy Merelsnest Z, known to his friends as Dime Bar. The horse jumped round the Hickstead Derby last year with Morgan Shirley in the saddle.
“Shirley said she’d had a really long think and that she would love me to have a go at the Hickstead Derby, would I be up for it?” explains Gemma. “I looked sickly and pale at Gary, who was nodding away, saying ‘You should do it, you should do it!’ So I said maybe I should come and ride the horse first before deciding.
“He’s not the easiest, he’s quite a sensitive character, but actually we got on really well and I thought ‘OK, I think I can do this’.”
Gemma Stevens: ‘William Whitaker has offered to walk the Hickstead Derby course with me’
When H&H spoke to Gemma, she was about to practise over a bank and a few Derby fences at Pyecombe, and former winner William Whitaker has offered to walk the course with her at Hickstead.
“He [Dime Bar] is very brave, I’ve jumped some quite big jumps on him and we seem to get on well – Shirley even said ‘I think he likes you!’, so that’s a good sign,” said Gemma, who will jump in Hickstead’s Derby trial on Friday (24 June) before attempting “the big one”.
“I’m not expecting to be troubling the leaders at this stage, but just the fact I’m giving it a go and on a horse I’ve not ridden that much… Why not?” added Gemma, who has watched the video of Dime Bar jumping in last year’s Derby “about 10 times so far and I’m sure I’ll do a few more”.
“I’m going to give it a good go anyway,” she said
Among the list of this year’s potential Al Shira’aa Hickstead Derby contenders are four-time winner William Funnell and 2022 victor Shane Breen, who will be hoping to defend is title on last year’s winner Can Ya Makan, as well as his 10-year-old home-bred Scarteen.
Don’t miss Horse & Hound’s full Al Shira’aa Hickstead Derby preview in next week’s magazine, in the shops Thursday 15 June.
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Shane Breen on his Hickstead Derby victory: ‘Maybe one of my kids will win it one day’
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