British showjumper Harry Charles is back! After a relatively quiet 2025, in which the now 26-year-old married fellow rider Eve Jobs, the Hampshire rider is enjoying a resurgent start to 2026, with two four- and five-star wins to his name already.
Currently competing on the tour in Doha, Qatar, the 2024 Olympic gold medallist began the year with grand prix success on Casquo Blue. The following week at the CSI5* HH The Father Amir’s Prix 2026, Harry landed a two-phase class with the brilliant 11-year-old Bandit, who is on the comeback trail after being sidelined for much of 2025.
A winning return for Bandit
With an assortment of rising equine stars also in action over the past two weeks – including the eye-catching Fighting Phil, who is producing clear round after clear round in the Al Shaqab arena – these are clearly exciting times once again for Harry Charles, now ranked 42nd in the world.
“Having Bandit back is a big highlight for all of us,” says Harry, of the horse from whom he fell in Aachen in 2024, fracturing his wrist, but who went on to grand prix success in Kronenberg and helped the Archers team to victory in the Major League Show Jumping in the US.
“It was nearly a year from his last show to his first show back in September. His jump is still exceptional, but he’s always had his own opinions, so it’s taken a bit of time redoing a lot of the work on the ground. He feels as good as he’s ever been now though.”
Harry Charles riding Bandit in the CSI5* The Defender Challenge Stakes during the Royal Windsor Horse Show in 2024.
“Just a really cool horse”
As well as his recent grand prix winner Casquo Blue, Harry still has 13-year-old Sherlock as his top horse. Both are jointly owned by Stall Zet and his father Peter Charles. But Harry has also been busy producing his younger horses and rebuilding his string in the wake of recent reshuffles which included the retirement of Romeo 88, his Paris Olympics gold medal-winning partner, last year.
“The horses coming through now are a bit of what I was doing last year,” explains Harry. “I wasn’t at shows so I was busy trying to produce some more horses for this year.”
Harry describes his own nine-year-old Fighting Phil (Cornet Obolensky x Contender) as “an amazing horse”.
“He’s already jumped a couple of three-star grands prix and he just seems to be getting better and better,” says Harry. “I bought him at seven years old and I just liked him from the start but he’s a big horse and we were a bit unsure if he’d be able to put it all together. But the attitude and his mind are really making him into a good, exciting horse, so I’m looking forward to him progressing on this tour.
“He’s a really big jumper, but sensitive not cold, and if in the future he can fill in the same way that Casquo has done for me, that would be amazing. He’s really enjoyable to work with, just a really cool horse.”
A family affair in Doha
Harry, who is competing in Doha alongside his wife Eve and sister Sienna, has six horses with him, also including 10-year-old stallion Ballypatrick Tiberius and nine-year-old Robinson.
“The facilities here are brilliant and it’s set up so horses don’t feel like they’re at a show – even in the grands prix – so it’s really nice to be able to jump big classes for big money in a low-pressure environment,” says Harry.
“For horses doing their first bigger classes, they get to see and experience everything without the extra tension or buzz that indoor shows often have. I’m very lucky to be here. Hopefully I won’t fall any further down the rankings now and I’d like to think this will set us up for a good year ahead.”
- To stay up to date with all the breaking news from major shows throughout the year, subscribe to the Horse & Hound website
You may also be interested in:
‘I’ll take a win over Hello Folie while I can – it won’t happen very often!’ Harry Charles pips his team-mate to grand prix glory
‘This means the world’: British riders celebrate a glorious League of Nations-grand prix double
Hundreds back call for change after Olympic rider has ‘probably the worst fall of my career’
Subscribe to Horse & Hound magazine today – and enjoy unlimited website access all year round
