A mare who was bought to be a companion foal has claimed one of the most coveted titles in showjumping, the Horse of the Year Show (HOYS) Redpost Equestrian senior Foxhunter championship in commanding style for rider James Ingham.
Seven-year-old Altesse 2 V Z finished third in Wednesday night’s (8 October) senior newcomers championship, then beat newcomers victors Pippa Goddard and PDV Constanza by 0.85sec for the following day’s historic title.
“It means everything to take this,” James said. “For years, we’ve bred our horses ourselves, or bought them as foals, as we can’t afford to buy them ready made, and to produce one from a foal and win that final is just unbelievable.”
James bought the hugely talented daughter of Aganix de Seigneur Z on a trip to Belgium.
“I just saw her in the corner of a stable, she was in there with two Shetland ponies, and I said ‘Oh, what’s that?’” he said.
“Aganix is now considered an incredible breeding stallion, but at the time he wasn’t well known, and the man just replied that she was by a young stallion. We had our first home-bred at home, who was due to be weaned, so I just bought her to pal up with him. We have a bit of an Only Fools and Horses theme going on, so we called them Cassandra and Rodney!”
“She’s the best horse I’ve ever had”
“She’s turned out to be the best horse I’ve ever had and probably the best I will ever have,” James said. “I can’t replace her, she’s amazing.”
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The Foxhunter track was an exacting test; most of the 23 combinations forward had just the one or two rails, and only four secured the elusive clear round.
Pippa and the very fast and careful seven-year-old PDV Constanza set a lofty bar from first to go in the jump-off, before Leo Lamb posted a fluid clear 2.25sec slower to keep the pressure on, riding his mother Carron Nicol’s RRH Out Of The Blue.
James found all the extra inches to carve off almost another second, while last-in David Harland and Murchako Quatro tipped the blue vertical three from home to put themselves out of contention.
“I had my plan before I went in,” James said. “Joe Trunkfield, who I train with, said it was quick and the only places you could try to be quicker were by taking one less to the double and one less to the blue. Luckily I came off the corner to both of those with a forward shot and then just had to trust her to jump them. She was phenomenal.”
The mare finished 13th in her age final at the Lanaken young horse World Championships before HOYS and will now have a break.
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