Horse of the Year Show: Horse & Hound Foxhunter Championship

“This is everyone’s dream. I just never ever believed it would happen to me,” said an emotional Simon Nicholson after winning this year’s Horse & Hound Foxhunter Championship on his own and Paul Coe’s British-bred stallion, Marcolas G.

This was one of the most popular victories in the long history of this class. The man from Shipton-on-Stour has been competing at HOYS for 29 years and his best result to date had been third place. But everything went right when it mattered.

Simon kept his cool throughout an immaculate jump-off round and forced all but one of his rivals into error.

Phillip Miller finished agonisingly close for second place on Charlotte Clarke’s Twister II, while Paul Barker, who had to contend with first draw of 12, finished third with a flying round but one pole down on Amira II.

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