Hickstead secures £120,000 sponsorship for Derby
Furniture giant DFS has agreed to sponsor Hickstead’s British Jumping Derby competition (23-27 June) for a seventh year.
The company will provide a £120,000 prize pot again this year — the showjumping meeting’s 50th anniversary.
Hickstead director and show secretary, Lizzie Bunn, welcomed the news, saying: “DFS has been a great supporter of Hickstead and showjumping. It’s a great way to start our 50th year.”
This year’s DFS Derby (27 June) could also make jumping history, with William Funnell bidding for his fourth win on the same horse — Cortaflex Mondriaan.
The feat has only been achieved once in the last half century, by Eddie Macken and the legendary Boomerang in 1979.
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A self-confessed newshound, farmer’s daughter and journalist of many years' experience, Charlotte worked on regional papers before joining H&H in 2007. A regular rider, she visited Ireland in 2010 to investigate the fate of Irish horses through the recession, to much acclaim, and reported from the FEI General Assembly in Rio de Janeiro in 2011. She left Horse & Hound in March 2013.