Leading showman Vin Toulson has died aged 78

Leading showman Vin Toulson has died at the age of 78 in hospital in Uttoxeter.

Vin produced some of the top hunters of the day, winning the Horse of the Year Show accolade with Princes Street in 1973 — when he also claimed the small hunter title with Sporting Print — Assurance in 1982, Elite in 1983 and Seabrook in 1986 and ’87.

Princes Street was a Thoroughbred who came off the racetrack (racing name Passing Light) three months before being produced by Vin to win in the showring. After his HOYS victory, new rules came in that prevented him being shown again, as he had been Hobdayed.

“Vin was a true horseman of the old school,” showman Robert Oliver said on Monday. “He was in his heyday when I started out, and he and his horses were always immaculate.”

A former point-to-pointer, Vin and his wife, Daphne — whom he married in 1958 and who died in 2005 — were a formidable team in the showring for decades, and later became renowned for breeding top-class hunters at their Gartree Stud near Melton Mowbray, Leics.

The funeral is to be held in Cheadle, but the date and time has not yet been announced. Vin’s obituary will be published in a future issue of Horse & Hound.

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