When charismatic 18hh “gentle giant” showjumping horse Flamboyant III won the 2026 Al Shira’aa Derby at Hickstead with William Whitaker in the saddle, he captured our hearts once again. Not only has the puissance hero wowed the crowds with his high-jump antics, the 16-year-old gelding has now thrilled us all with a string of gallant Hickstead Derby efforts, twice finishing runner-up – in 2024 and 2025 – before finally landing the historic showpiece with a spectacular double clear.
“He deserved this win,” said William after the fairytale success.
But what a journey the brilliant “Banksy” has been on, particularly with owners Vicky Smith and her son Elliott, the gelding’s regular rider.
“We’re so proud of all he has achieved, but Elliott needs to write a book about all the ups and downs of his life story!” says Vicky Smith.
Flamboyant III: “Strong, difficult, a bit unmanageable”
Flamboyant III, a son of VDL Cardento 933 out of Amarenz (by Niveau) was bred in the Netherlands by Anrike Trip-van Ijzeren, who travelled from Holland to watch her home-bred win the Hickstead Derby this year. Anrike sold him at auction as a three-year-old for little over £1,000 before Vicky Smith and her then teenage son Elliott bought him as an unbroken youngster.
“When we viewed Flamboyant loose jumping as a three-year-old, he jumped a massive gate and we thought, ‘He’s going to be good!’” explains Elliott.
But, as Vicky explains, it certainly wasn’t all plain-sailing.
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“We sent him to Sammie-Jo Coffin to back and she described him as one of the worst she’d ever had,” says Vicky. “He was strong, difficult, a bit unmanageable and was always shooting off. It turned out he had terrible kissing spines.
“He was operated on, but could barely put one foot in front of the other so I didn’t think he’d ever do anything again. It took two years of rehab, but we had so much belief in him.
“We’ve had to be very, very patient and spent many hours with him. He had to learn to realise that it didn’t hurt when he jumped anymore. He still takes a lot of patience and calming, he’s definitely unique!”
Why Flamboyant’s first puissance attempt was “an afterthought”
Elliott describes the early years with Banksy as “a learning curve”.
“We progressed together – when I was going through my teenage years, he was doing the same sort of thing – but we took things slowly to make sure he had longevity because he was always a horse we were going to keep,” he reveals.
“He’s big and strong, so he makes the distances a bit too easily – as a six-year-old at Addington, he put in one stride at a two-stride double, so that was something we had to work on. But he made up for it with his jump,” he says.
“We jumped our first puissance more as an afterthought. I’d never jumped higher than 1.80m and that was the wall’s starting height, but we went the full five rounds and cleared 2.20m, which was a shock! But it felt so easy.”
Elliott and Flamboyant had found their forté and finished equal first in the Bolesworth puissance in 2019, 2021 and 2024 and they were placed at both Horse of the Year Show and the London International in 2022.
Hickstead Derby dreams and downfalls
“I always had aspirations to jump in the Hickstead Derby,” says Elliott. “Then in 2022 I fell off him after crossing the finish line in the Derby trial, breaking my leg. Lizzie Bunn said, ‘You’ve qualified, so who would you like to ride him, William Whitaker or another rider?’
“William has always been a big idol to me, so it was the perfect match. I had surgery on my leg the following day, then watched them jump an amazing 12-fault round from my bed on Sunday. Flamboyant proved he suited Derby classes and we’ve never looked back.”
William Whitaker takes up the story, saying: “It was very unfortunate what happened to Elliott in the Derby trial, but I said I’d give the Derby a go! I popped a few fences and tried to get a feel for him. He’s such a big horse, but he’s really sensitive. His adrenaline gets going, he starts running with his big stride and everything gets a bit short.
“He had three down that first year, but he did a lot of things well. He came home with me and stayed until the following Derby while Elliott was off, but the past two years I’ve only ridden him at Hickstead. It’s just a question of trying to remember what buttons I pressed last time!”
William Whitaker produces the “fairytale finish” with Flamboyant III in the 2026 Hickstead Derby, jumping a spectacular double clear.
(Image credit: Elli Birch)
All in the preparation
Flamboyant lives with the Smiths in Devon for the majority of the year.
“We do lots of hillwork to keep him fit,” says Elliott. “I get to jump some bigger classes with him, then William takes him for the Derby shows, so it works out well.”
William was back in the saddle for last month’s Hamburg Derby, jumping a super round but just falling victim to the tricky double of single poles to finish sixth.
“He was very unlucky not to jump clear with the effort he put in,” says William. “There’s not much to back them off the double of rails where he faulted, especially after you’ve jumped the big oxer before, and he has such a big stride that he almost jumped in too well and made up too much ground.
“But from the moment he trotted in the ring, I felt him take a breath and relax and I thought that’s a good start, because it’s so different on Derby day with all the photographers in the ring and thousands of spectators. Then I just got him in a lovely rhythm and tried to make it as easy as possible for him.
“But I was glad for the two qualifiers in Hamburg, I felt like I needed them! Sunday was the most relaxed he’d been all week, he had definitely settled a bit by then.
“His best attribute is that he could jump a house and the Derby obstacles don’t faze him,” continues William.
Flamboyant’s only flaw? “You can’t catch him!” says William of the “gentle giant”.
“The first time we turned him out, it took six hours to get him in – in the end, I rang Elliott and said, ‘How do you catch this bloody horse, because in a minute he’s going to be staying out for the night!’ Eventually, when it was on his terms, he decided to come in,” he says.
William Whitaker, son Oliver and groom Lewis Robert Shaw share a moment after winning the Hickstead Derby.
“Having jumped clear last year and come so close to winning, you do feel Flamboyant deserved to have the Derby on his résumé,” says William, who watched past videos of Flamboyant’s Derby rounds in preparation “to look for anything in particular we need to work on”.
“My 2016 Hickstead Derby winner Max, Glenavadra Brilliant, was in a similar bracket – he deserved everything to come right for him on the day and eventually it did.”
Much of the credit for the final preparations go to William’s wife Elisabeth, who has been riding Flamboyant at home since the Hamburg Derby.
“I was lucky enough to get selected to go to St Gallen,” explains William. “Then I went to Poland for two weeks with Millfield Quickstep on Nations Cups, and Elisabeth said, because he’s a bit of a strong horse, ‘Who’s going to be riding Flamboyant?’ I said, ‘You are!’ You’ve done a fantastic job, love, well done.”
Vicky sums up: “William Whitaker, with his wealth of experience, manages Banksy brilliantly. Because he’s still a very tricky ride, he requires a lot of patience and calming, and the way William reads how to jump each fence on him is incredible. I can’t watch, though! I’m hiding.
“He’s taught Elliott so much about the journey of life – it’s not just about the winning, it’s the maintenance and the looking after and as long as he comes back safe, sound and happy, that’s all that matters. He’s the horse of a lifetime, we’re so lucky to have him.”
Congratulations to the whole team behind the magnificent Flamboyant III – the Hickstead fairytale finally happened.
Jennifer is passionate at showjumping and her role as H&H’s showjumping editor has taken her around the world reporting from shows and interviewing riders, connections and those involved behind the scenes. Since joining H&H from BBC Sport in 2005, she has written on every subject across the equestrian sphere — from turnout rugs to stable management — and has interviewed gold medallists, world champions and winners galore. She also has first-hand experience of working in the equestrian industry as a riding instructor and yard manager.
